COMMUNITY CHANGE AND HOSPITAL DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY OF COMMUNITY POWER STRUCTURE by Alexander J. Muntean AN ABSTRACT Submitted to the College of Science and Arts Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Sociology and Anthropology 3/ < \ 29 _ ___ // Approved Q§Z~j é £51" A) / / 2 ALEXANDER J. MUNTEAN ABSTRACT in this case study we have examined one facet of hospital-community relationships primarily, namely the relationship to be found between the power structure of a particular community and that community's hospital governing board. We have shown that the construction of the new community hospital and the selection of its board members were major components of the hospital issue, which was but one in a series of important decision—making issues involving the repeated, direct participation of certain interest groups and individuals making up the community power structure. An analysis of the resolution of three important issues revealed a pattern in the decision-making processes which could be directly linked to specific bases of response--economics, power or authority, cultural values, and attitudes toward particular persons or groups in the community. We have shown that external and internal change forces--such as population increase, the expansion and development of technology, and the spread of communication and transportation networks--have made a differential impact upon the community and have forced the members of the com- munity power structure to adjust their interests and resolve the resultant issues on a wider basis of response than formerly. Formerly, the community was a self-contained one-industry town of conservative bent; and it possessed an elite paternalistic power structure-—an Exclusive Elite type. 3 ALEXANDER J. MUNTEAN ABSTRACT It has been moving, however, toward the status of a com- muters' town, with liberalization concomitant in many areas, but with a widening cleavage of values occurring between oldtimers and newcomers. This cleavage has also resulted in a change in the community power structure, which now resembles the type known as Fluid influentials. COMMUNITY CHANGE AND HOSPITAL DEVELOPMENT: A CASE STUDY OF COMMUNITY POWER STRUCTURE bv U Alexander J. Muntean A THESIS Submitted to the College of Science and Arts Michigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Sociology and Anthropology 1959 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Jay W. Artie, my thesis advisor, for his constant support and patience in seeing this thesis to its conclusion. I am also in- debted to Dr. Walter A. Freeman and other members of the Hospital-Community Relations project for their suggestions. To Dr. Charles R. Hoffer, I owe my thanks for his enduring encouragement. A special note of acknowledgment is due Dr. William H. Form for the invaluable theoretical stimulation I received from his classes and writings. Last, but not least, I thank the people of Mills Springs for their splendid cooperation, without which this thesis would not have been possible. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . ii PART I. SCOPE AND METHODS Chapter I. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM . . . . . . . . 2 Introduction The Problem of Medical Care Hospital-Community Relationships The Hospital-Community Relationships Project The Thesis Problem Summary II. METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURE AND THEORY . . . 20 Criteria for the Selection of Hospitals and Communities for Case Study Purposes Criteria for the Selection of the Present Research Site Theoretical Formulations Empirically-Oriented Action-Conflict Theories Coleman's Community Conflict Theory Form-Miller Theory of Power Structure PART II. ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS III. COMMUNITY SETTING . . . . . . . . . 63 General Characteristics Brief History of Mills Springs Industrial Development Modern Mills Springs Industrial History Mills Springs Community Power Structure - Key Influentials Top Influentials iii Chapter - ‘ Page IV. DESCRIPTION AND CHRONOLOGY OF ISSUES. . . 104 Introduction Strike-Unionization Issue Hospital Issue School Issue V. ANALYSIS OF ISSUES AND THE PATTERN OF COMMUNITY POWER: CONCLUSION . . . . 186 Mills Springs: From Self-Contained Town to Commuters‘ Town Hospital Issue School Issue Cautions in Interpretation Summary of Findings APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 BIBLIOGRAPHY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 iv PART I. SCOPE AND METHODS CHAPTER I THE RESEARCH PROBLEM Introduction Our nation, in company with many others in the world, is today faced with many serious social problems. It is suffering from certain social conditions that have been aggravated or brought about to a large extent by the tremendous social upheaval that was World War II. The United States of America finds itself, perhaps more than at any previous time in its history, in a state of very rapid social transition and in a state of phenomenal material growth and development. In large part these problematic conditions which are the immediate consequences of World War II have resulted from the pressures of unfore- seen and unplanned-for circumstances. A lack of planning by the local, state, and central governments on a scale comprehensive enough to handle such developments and the stimying of action by pressure groups in areas where fore- sight and planning were available have further complicated matters. Material growth and development are outstripping the social growth and development necessary to the smooth assimilation of such material changes by society. 2 A cultural lag of sizeable proportions characterizes much of the world today in this respect, including the United States; although in many respects this nation has narrowed that breach somewhat more successfully than others. In the social realm, the comparatively traditional, settled, slowly-moving way of life characteristic of many small American communities in pre-war days--especially of the less industrial, less urban areas--is undergoing a series of drastic changes. A very noticeable quickening in the pace of life and a perceptible increase in its com- plexity are evident. Social conditions appear to be in a state of flux and rapid, sometimes seemingly chaotic changes appear to be taking place in many areas of modern American social life. In many cases these conditions are having socially disruptive effects. In this country the tremendous increase in popu- lation, the phenomenal developments and expansion of tech- nology, and the spread of communication and transportation networks, after World War II especially, are among the major, general, "conditioning" factors that have contri- buted to the increase in social problems and disruptive social conditions. Everywhere there are immediate demands being made for the solution of these problems in many, many crucial areas of social life by people in diverse types of communities. It is not our purpose in this thesis to elaborate this social problems theme unduly. However, it does seem to us that any examination of social conditions or problems, and the issues or conflicts that arise as a result, must be made in a research context which unites these major "condi- tioning” factors, as they find application, with those unique characteristics of particular communities--such as their way of life, values, and philosophy, to name only a few-~if a meaningful and an adequate analysis is to result. But to study a particular community's way of life, values, and philosophy involves studying these factors in terms of that community's social groups and the individuals prominent in these groups. These values, philosophy and ways of life, however, may not be the same or mean the same thing for different groups and individuals in a community. Only a very few of the crucial problem areas this nation faces can be mentioned in passing here. Some of these crucial domestic problems are in the areas of housing, employment, schooling, medical care, juvenile delinquency, race relations, and others almost ad infinitum. The nearly insurmountable magnitude and complexity presented by these problematic social conditions leave most interested social scientists and concerned parties awe-struck. However, they realize some educated answers and solutions to these con- ditions and problems are vitally needed. Unfortunately, much preliminary investigation remains to be done in many of these areas. Social \f' scientists and others are engaged in trying to accurately map out the problem areas. The "cultural lag" the social sciences suffer from, i. e., in terms of not having devel— oped general comprehensive theories to keep pace with the multiplication of problems, makes it necessary that we do spadework anew in many areas hitherto uninvestigated. The social sciences need to: (I) outline the problem areas with more accuracy, (2) account for the occurrence of the problems by means of some c0mprehensive theory, (3) show the interrelations of problem areas, and (A) make some practical recommendations towards the solution of the problems.1 1We shall briefly try to defend this value judgment, or what some would call an ethical point of view, without, we hope, going too far afield. This position is as defens- ible as its opposite. Some social scientists would disagree that it is their business to make any practical recommendations towards the solution of social problems. They are of the opinion that their responsibilities should be limited strictly to the scientific aspects of their research, that practical action programs or the applications of their research findings belong strictly to the realm of civic and political activity. In support of their position they make what they consider a clear distinction between "pure" and ”applied" science which seems to us to be specious. It is questionable and quite difficult to maintain this distinction in the natural sciences which are far more susceptible to objective control in this and other respects, let alone in the social sciences where such control is fleeting and where in many instances the research activity itself affects the subsequent research results and the action taken or application made. Without further belaboring this point, this hands- cxfif’position appears to us to be a short-sighted and prej- udiced one. These persons might learn something about the responsibilities they have for the results and applications of their researches from the experience of certain natural scientists, such as Robert J. Oppenheimer, working on the A- and H-bomb probjects. (It should be unnecessary to 0\ These tasks, to be sure, can by no means be accom- plished overnight. They must be approached with some humility, with a realization of our limitations as social scientists and of the limitations of our techniques and present knowledge. Yet, with the social scientific knowl- edge at our command, feeble as it may be, we feel that some progress can be made both in developing the necessary scientific theory to analyze and account for these problems and in offering some practical suggestions for their solution. The Problem of Medical Care The crucial problem area of immediate concern to this thesis is the area of medical care. In recent years, expecially since World War II, much growing concern has been expressed by various parties directly interested in the provision of medical care (through hospitals) and in the difficulties and problems encountered in the growing area of hospital-community relationships. These parties prim- arily include hospital governing boards, hospital adminis- trators, the medical profession, governmental and various detail that experience for the reader.) We can say, how- ever, that just as potentially "explosive" an ethical situ- ation exists in some areas of social science research which are concerned with motivation, advertising, mass communi- cations, and the like, i.e., where social control techniques are under investigation. The implications of the misappli- cation of these results reveal clear and present dangers and should not be underestimated. The use to which these findings are put is our responsibility, both in regard to our role as social scientists and as citizens. social service agencies, and hospital associations generally. Lately the social sciences have taken an interest. In the last few decades we in this nation have seen more and more community services formerly performed by privately-owned, supported, and operated institutions become more and more parts of the public domain. The hospital as an institution is no exception to this general trend. With this increase in accountability and responsibility to the community, certain public demands and resultant problems not faced previously have made their appearance on the hospital scene. Formerly, wealthy benefactors in effect subsidized hospitals which were widely regarded as charitable insti- tutions where the poor and unfortunate sought the only medical care available to them. These indigent people often ended their days there. The reputation of hospitals was none too good. Medical, and especially hospital, care was held in low esteem for the most part. But with the accumulating advances in medical tech- niques and, as a result, better hospital care, the hospital's place in the community changed. It has changed to the point where it is now universally accepted as a vital community 2Maurice Bubis, "Hospitals Increasingly Accepted as Community Social Agencies,” Hospital Management, February, 1941, p. 28. Also, J. J. Golub: “The Hospital in the Changing Order," Modern Hospital, January, 1947, pp. 69-71. service. The hospital lost its former stigma and became less of a charitable institution or private concern. With the passage of time the bulk of the support it required came more and more from the community; in recent times the state and national governments have also become involved in its support. Hospital-Community Relationships -The involvement of the hospital with the community, through its patronage and support, has resulted in the nec— essity for closer and better relationships between the two. The hospital has been relatively ”isolated” from the rest of the community and it must learn its place in the com- munity through an understanding of hospital—community relationships.3 There are obstacles to this goal, however, since the increasing specialization of various sectors of the hospital as an institution has tended to reinforce its former isolation. For example, much of what passes as hospital-community relationships, as viewed by a sizeable majority of hospital officials, falls within the category of public relations.4 3W. S. McNary, "Don't Fence the Community Out," Hospitals, December, 1955, pp. 61-63. 2‘LSome examples are: Bolton Boone, ”We Influenced Important Audiences," Hospital Management, April, 1954, pp. Al-AE; Harry Boyd, ”A Good‘Press is a Good Thing," Modern Hospital, August, 1956, pp. 81-84; D. C. Carney, "Planned PuBIIc Relations," Hospital Management, January, 1950), p. 37; Germaine Febrau,‘VAIPlacque-Winning Public Relations But there are more serious aspects requiring attention in hospital-community relationships. Some of these problems in this area have to do with the building of new hospitals and the necessity to solicit funds from the public to do so, the expansion of existing facilities, the need to justify increases in fees as a result of increased costs, and many more that require a close liaison 5 and understanding between the hospital and the community. The Hospital-Community Relationships Project This thesis is largely the result of this writer's research activity with the "Hospital-Community Relationships" project, a study undertaken by members of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Social Research Service at Michigan State University. This project is supported by funds from the National Institutes of Health, United States Public Health Service. The research plan of this project is as follows in those aspects crucially relevant to this thesis. An holistic view of hospital-community relation- ships has been adopted in which the main aim of analysis Program," Hospital Management, February, 1951, pp. 36-38; R. M. Hueston, "What are the Essentials of a Good Hospital Public Relations Program?" Hospital Management, April, 1952, pp. 42-A3; "Importance of an Intelligent Selling Job Stressed at Public Relations Round Table," Hospital Manage- ment, October, 1939, p. 19. 5A few of these problems are delineated in articles cited in the bibliography. 10 is concerned with those relationships occurring within a "socially defined area which serves the multiple needs of a certain number of people, which has recognized geographic boundaries, and which gains the identity of community through economic, political, and social organization."6 A major underlying assumption of the over-all study is that the "community" oi importance in hospitai-community relationships is composed oi "functionally interrelated social positions which are relevant to hospital operations and which are attached to significant social structures found within the community." These relationships form a pattern?7 This underiying assumption is basic to this thesis.\\ Unfortunately, little systematic research in this particular area is to be found in the professional liter- ature of the social sciences. The same is true of the medical-hospital literature. This points to the necessity for gathering preliminary case studies of hospital-community relationships with reference to significant social structures. Briefly then, the broad purposes of this more extensive study are to: (l) examine the significant rela- tionships which exist between the hospital and the community; 6Research proposal, "Hospital-Community Relation- ships," offered to National Institutes of Health by Social Research Service in April, 1956, p. l. 7 Ibid., p. l. ll (2) establish, if possible, typologies of hospital-community relationships based upon an analysis of the range of rela- tionships to be found, through a number of representative case studies; and (3) establish criteria to improve the relationships between the hospital and its community. It is hoped that this thesis may find immediate application under the first stated purpose El investigating one specific significant relationship between the hospital and s social structure is s community. It is hoped further that the surplus of data collected may serve as an aid in the second purpose by furnishing a case study of a particu- lar type of community and its multiple relationships with its hospital. The Thesis Problem It is the main purpose of this thesis to investigate that pattern of significant relationships or attachments which, we strongly suspect, exists between the community power structure of this particular community and its hospital governing board. Because we suspect the relation- ships between particular members of the community power structure and the hospital governing board to a large extent determine or set the stage for many of the other hospital-community relationships, we will examine this aspect, primarily. This important relationship between the community power structure and the hospital governing board is largely due to the strategic position members of the community power structure occupy in various key community institutions and on the hospital governing board, we believe. (For fuller development of this aspect see Chapters II, IV, and V.) This thesis, therefore, will be primarily a case study illustrating such a pattern or complex of power; in this instance one that has been characteristic of a small town, a rural trade center community with a new community hospital, located in central Michigan. (The criteria according to which this community and its hospital were chosen are given in Chapter II.) It will 222 be the purpose of this thesis to present an analysis encompassing all the institutional segments that go to make up a community whole and their relation— ships with the hospital. Rather, it will be necessary to place analytical emphasis on only those dynamic structural and functional aspects of certain important social issues and conflicts that have occurred in the community that are reflected in the hospital board composition. What we will attempt to accomplish by analytically isolating the community power structure and by tracing its role in three important community issues is an integrated description and analysis of the pattern of decision-making and issues-resolution in this particular community. We will attempt to show that the founding of the new community hospital and the selection of its board members did not 13 happen in a vacuum, but that these events fit into a pattern. We will try to fit the founding of the new hospital and the recruitment of its board into a wider social context in which the influence of the community's way of life, values, philosophy, and unique history are brought to bear upon certain issues and problems created by increasing population, the developments and expansion of technology, and the spread of communication and transportation networks. ¥“ The building of the new hospital was an important issue in the community that was selected, but not the most important. In terms of social conflict it contained only muted aspects. The other major issue, and the one in which social conflict was clear, was the recent school issue which has generated conflict over consolidation and annex- ation.8 Involved in this issue are essentially the same 8The school issue over consolidation and annexation is currently generating much concern, controversy, and con- flict in Michigan, in much of the Mid-West generally, and in other areas of the nation. The situation in Michigan has been complicated not only by the general increase in the school-age population, witnessed in the United States as a whole (as a result of the sharp rise in birth rate during and after World War II), but also by the moves on the part of the state government encouraging reduction of the existing number of school districts. By reducing the number of school districts and by creating central school districts in the various counties of the state, the state government claims it will be able to provide more efficient supervision, more economical financial aid, better and varied educational facilities, and to raise educational standards. Various rural areas, and fewer urban areas, are fighting this trend toward consolidation or annexation (they are essentially similar) claiming that self-rule, and with it the freedom to choose and run their schools as they would like, will vanish. Many oppose what they call the trend 1A individuals and factions in the community power structure that are involved in the hospital issue and the other issues that have occurred in the community. These other significant social issues, and the conflicts they have generated in the community, will be included in this dynamic structural and functional analysis to give meaning to the existing pattern of power and to the existing complex of relationships between the community power structure and the hospital governing board. Significant past issues and con- flicts, as well as issues appearing on the horizon, will be included in the analysis to give a better understanding of the historical development of the present state of affairs and a perspective on the probable direction that resolution of future issues can be expected to take. Therefore, this analysis will concern itself prim- arily with social processes, as these are exhibited by these social issues and conflicts. That is, it will incorporate an analysis of community change dynamics.9 toward "totalitarian" organization. Chapter IV, dealing specifically with the school issue, will discuss the con- troversy in some detail as it occurred in the community investigated. 9We are using the word "dynamics" in the traditional sociological sense, BEE in the psychoanalytical or psycho- logical sense. As such it has a venerable usage, extending back in time to Auguste Comte. In America, Lester A. Ward was one of the first identified with the concept. 15 . lO ,_ . y . Coleman, Coser, Form, and others nave demonstrated I tnat ordin W rily such an analysis of issues and conflicts will clearly show an emergent pattern of power in various communities. Since power may be wielded by prominent individuals and groups, or vested interest factions, as in this particular community, it will be necessary to delineate the power structure of this specific community and to in- vestigate its influence in the context of these selected At any given time and place not all the institu- N tional se*ments of a community can be expected to find l'f representation in the community power structure and may not be involved in all the issues and conflicts that aris . It is for this reason, and several others to be mentioned below, that emphasis is placed upon the governing board of the hospital, the community power structure, and the persistent part they play in the existing issues and conflicts. The Q '1 En K.‘ great s ings in time and money--not to mention the conser- ' I ‘u', E; t l f .n of energy and increased efficiency in investigation-— are additional reasons for such an approach. H C" 0James C. Coleman, Community Conflict (Glencoe, Illino s: The Free Press, 1957);*LewIs Coser, The Functions of Social Conflict (Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, l95o); W. HT_P6rm_and D. G. Miller, Industry and the Com- munity (ms. forthcoming for publicationI; C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956); Floyd Hunter, Community Power Structure (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1953); Robert S. n Helen M. Lynd, M ddletown in Transition (New York: H rcourt, Brace and Co.. 1937). C); W m 16 It would not be feasible, within the confines and scope of a master's thesis, to delineate all the dynamic structural-functional aspects of the hospital as an insti- tution as they relate to the community. The reasons mentioned above with respect to the analysis of issues, conflicts, and community power structure apply here also. Other considerations, however, have led to the selection of this approach. The literature pertinent to a description of the organization of a voluntary, general hospital11 emphasizes a tri-partite division of hospital organizations. These consist of: (l) the governing board, (2) the medical staff, and (3) the administrator. Of these three major divisions, the governing board is that body which bears the heaviest and most direct responsibility for the hospital's operations to the community. Among its functions, duties, and respon- sibilities are the following:12 1. The governing board, as owner, is legally respon- sible not only for the management of the finances of the institution, but for the "exercise of due care and diligence" in the appointment of the medical staff and for the making and enforcement of such regulations as are necessary to ensure proper care of the patients. 11See Chapter II for the rationale of the over-all study in selection of this type of hospital. 12The Individual Hospitai (Chicago, Illinois: American Hospital Association, I945), p. 31. l7 2. The governing board, as trustee of public funds, is responsible for the proper conservation of such funds, and for their use for the purpose for which intended. No member of the governing board may derive any personal pecuniary profit from the exercise of such trusteeship. 3. The governing board of the hospital is responsible for the formulation of policies governing its administration. For the execution of these policies it is obligated to appoint a fully qualified and experienced administrator and to clothe him with such authority as to enable him to discharge his full responsibility as the executive agent of the governing board. Any interference by any individ— ual member of the governing board with the exercise of the duties of the administrator, not authorized by action of the board as a whole should be con- sidered to be definitely unethical and not for the good of the institution. 4. The governing board should delegate to the admin- istrator authority for the selection, payment and dismissal of all employees, for the purchase and payment of all supplies and services and for the daily operation of the institution, all within such limitations as the governing board may establish. 5. The governing board in order to ensure a high standard of professional care to the patients must exercise due care and diligence in the selection of the medical staff and make such regulations as are necessary to ensure the maintenance of such stan- dards, including the making of proper clinical records, the holding of staff conferences and such other duties as are a part of the recognized regime of a good hospital. 6. The governing board is obligated not alone to exercise adequate supervision over its own insti- tution, but to familiarize itself with the policies and procedures of other institutions, other community agencies and state and national organizations con- cerned with comparable objectives, to the end that it may more fully meet its obligations to its community. From this list of functions, duties, and responsi- bilities, it can be seen that ideally the governing board has a very strategic position in the organizational structure 18 and in the functioning of the hospital. It is often the case in communities of the type studied here that those serving on the governing board of the hospital are also members of the community power structure and quite influ- ential in the other major institutional segments of the community./ Therefore, our analysis will deal primarily with these members, although the status of any board members not prominent in the community power structure will be treated. Thus, an integrated analysis of community issues and conflicts in various institutional sectors may be accomplished; and by devoting our attention to the compo- sition of the community power structure and its interlocking memberships with the hospital governing board, with the school board in the school issue and in those structures relevant to the other issues to be included in the analysis, these activities will shed some light on how hospital- community relations are affected by considerations of power. Summary This chapter has presented a very brief review of the general social conditions that were a result of the social upheaval that was World War II. Out of these con— ditions there have arisen certain domestic social problems, issues, and conflicts. Our major concern with these prob- lems lies in the general problem area of medical care, and within this still broad area, with hospital-community relationships in particular. For purposes of this thesis 19 one such relationship, that obtaining between the hospital governing board and the community power structure, was chosen for investigation because it was felt to be the most significant of many. It was felt to be most significant because it was believed to determine or underlie the other relationships. This belief was predicated not only upon a reading of various sources in the hospital literature, but also upon preliminary investigation in the field. To illus- trate such a power relationship, certain other important issues in the community under investigation will be brought into the pattern analysis of power and decision-making in order to effect a dynamic structural—functional analysis of social processes relevant to hospital-community relation- ships. CHAPTER II METHODOLOGICAL PROCEDURES AND THEORY While compiling a comprehensive bibliography for use as background for the more extensive research project and this thesis, the author was struck by the really meager foundations that have been laid to date by social scientists and others in the area of hospital-community relationships.1 The available research was found to be rather inadequate from a sociological or anthropological point of view. This latter criticism applies less to the numerically fewer social science contributions than it did to the research and articles found in the various journals of hospital and related professional associations. This paucity and inadequacy of available research presented us with some difficult problems as to the theo- retical framework that should be adopted, the methodological procedures that should be employed, and posed other problems involving the setting up of criteria for the selection of representative communities and hospitals. 1 See the representative list of articles and book titles in the bibliography to verify this point. 20 21 Criteria for the Selection of Hospitals and CommunIties for CaseLStudy Purposes It was decided by the members of the more extensive study group that it was necessary to undertake some basic and representative case studies of hospital-community relationships, since so very few had been done and so little basic information was available to us. This was felt to be so essential that it was made one of the prime and immediate objectives. Another immediate objective was to collect some necessary basic data on hospitals in Michigan, sss ss, from hospital administrators and to use this information, as it could aid us, in formulating more informed and detailed working hypotheses for the extensive examination of signifi- cant aspects of hospital-community relationships to follow in the case studies. A questionnaire, entitled You As 5 Hospital Admin- istrator, was devised and mailed to all the administrators of voluntary, general hospitals in Michigan. (The process by which the criteria used in selecting this particular type of hospital were arrived at follows below.) Later this questionnaire was also distributed in California and Mississ- ippi to provide the basic data on hospitals necessary for future regional comparisons. It was felt that this questionnaire would provide basic information to aid in generating working hypotheses with which to go into the field. However, it was found later that some basic information could only come from the 22 case studies themselves and that it would be necessary to proceed with a set of working hypotheses borrowed or culled from research done in other areas of sociology. (Those that were adopted for this thesis are discussed below.) Some preliminary criteria were needed by means of which various communities and their hospitals could be selected for such study. These criteria had to be as far from arbitrary as possible, even taking into account the scarcity and the shortcomings of the available data from which they were to be projected and taking into account that they could not be fully justified. Some direction and focus were needed. It was decided that some significant factors, some controls, had to be found to serve as constants in each of the case studies. These controls were to apply not only to each community selected, but also to its hospital. Perhaps the important control factors related to the hospital can be considered more crucial since so little was known about this area and so little research was available. This approach was primarily necessary to insure the validity of the , 2 eventual comparisons to be made later of our various cases. 2The comparative method demands that certain common features must be held constant. This situation is also required if we wish to construct typologies, as we intend to do in the extensive study. Common features are also necessary to throw into relief any contrasts that may appear. Again, these contrasts aid in the construction of typologies. 23 To ease our task in setting up these criteria, several expert consultants in the hospital field and certain sociologists who had wide experience in studying certain aspects of hospitals as institutions were consulted. In addition, the annual "Guide" issue of the American Hospital Association's journal, Hospitals, which issue is a compen- dium of information on hospitals in the United States, was consulted. From these various sources it was learned that the voluntary, general hospital was the most typical and such hospitals were the most numerous in the United States. Because of these characteristics, it was decided that a study of this type of hospital would give the desired general picture of hospital-community relationships. For this reason it was decided to limit the over-all study to communities with voluntary, general hospitals with bed capacities of no more than 250. Hospitals of this bed capacity or less appeared to be the most typical and preva- lent, therefore, in a sense the most representative, according to our consultants and other sources. The voluntary, general hospital of this approximate size is typical with respect to the range of medical care facilities it has available and with respect to the poten- tial quality of medical care it has the capability to provide;3 yet, it generally is not of sufficiently large 3These criteria are not immediately germane to this thesis, which is not concerned with medical care per ss, but they are germane to the over-all study because further . \Iv 24 size to provide specialized functions as, say, is a university or research-teaching hospital. Complicating factors of selection were thus to some degree eliminated or mitigated. To adequately handle such a patient load--up to 250 beds—-a voluntary, general hospital, in terms of what is generally considered good medical care, must offer or have readily available certain hospital services, such as surgery, x-ray, cardiography, pathology, to list only a few. Provision of these services generally requires an adequate population, economic, social, and professional base of the community in which such a hospital is located. Such hospitals are generally found singly in small towns or smaller cities. Larger cities may have one or more of these, in addition to various specialized hospitals and services. This set of criteria took into account aspects related both to the representativeness of hospitals and communities to be investigated; but certain additional criteria were adopted with regard to communities we were to investigate. A range of different types of communities was needed to fulfill our requirements for establishing typologies. Therefore, as a start, the following research sites were phases of investigation will take place in the community we selected as one of the case study sites. This procedure was felt to be necessary to give continuity and cohesion to the project. selected as pilot studies in Michigan: (1) a large multi- industry city of approximately 100,000 population, and (2) a small town of A,OOO population, now predominately a rural trade center but also at one time virtually a company town. Another small multiple—industry city of 18,000 population in Pennsylvania was also selected. griteria for the Selection of the Present Research Site The small Michigan town that served as the research site for this thesis was selected after a preliminary reconnaissance by the author of twelve essentially similar Michigan communities. Hereafter this community shall be called Mills Springs to protect the identities and confi- dences of informants. Mills Springs was selected principally because it had just opened a new hospital and had a new hospital governing board of trustees. On the basis of these two facts it was expected that the task of tracing the founding of the hospital and the roles of the various trustees and of the community power structure in this endeavor would be made relatively simple, and that the research problem would appear clearer to the people it would be necessary to interview. Further impetus for such a choice was generated because the hospital issue was still a live one and fresh in the minds of the general mass of community members. Then too, the small size of the community offered easy 26 accessibility to a number of people and it was expected that the number of influentials in the community power structure would be a homogeneous and relatively small group. In terms of commuting distance, the town was an ideal choice. On the basis of preliminary interviews, which were accomplished through the providential rapport that was established with several prominent community residents, and on the basis of research with Mills Springs economic, census, and historical data, it was established that Mills Springs was a stable community--politically and economically conservative. Its population was relatively homogeneous as to ethnic background, and as to occupational and religious make-up. From historical materials found in local histories, documents and the newspaper files, and from accounts of knowledgeable informants, it was learned that the community power structure had a long tradition of involvement in all the major social issues of the community. There were certain problems as yet unresolved in the hospital issue relating to certain policies and operation of the hospital. The school issue was developing into a conflict situation and was very much in the public eye and evoking considerable community controversy. From the inter- views and from reading the local newspaper, we suspected that the community power structure might be heavily involved in both of these issues and that it seemed to be split into H) two major factions. The power struggle in decision-making could be seen taking place. From another methodological point of view the com- U) munity was nearly ideal because there was immediate acces to the community power structure and the hospital governing boar‘. In addition there were available the services of certain strategically-placed informants who were able to supply us with much valuable information about certain behind-the-scenes maneuvers of the community power structure. In other words, a study such as was outlined in Chapter could be undertaken. Theoretical Formulations It is necessary to lay out the basic theoretical foundations of this thesis in some detail before the dis- cussion of methodological considerations and a statement of .‘ the working hypotheses guid ng this case study can be 1 [—10 completed. The contributions to the study of human actions and of community power structure made by certain sociologists are used in this thesis either as basic assumptions or as theoretical guides. The eclectic nature of this thesis will soon become evidentu Hierarchy of power and the economic order.--The central findings and the theoretical positions on power of part of these sociologists support the thesis that in the United States the business community--the manufacturers, bankers, merchants, investment brokers, large real estate holders, et cetera—-exert predominant influence in deter- mining community policy-formation. A fundamental finding of these researchers and theorists“ on power is that the power structure of local society is hierarchical in nature. C. Wright Mills, in . The Power Elite,5 succinctly presents the general case: Local society is a structure of power as well as a hierarchy of status; at its top there is a set of cliques or "crowds" whose members judge and decide the important community issues, as well as many larger issues of state and nation in which "the community" is involved. Usually, although by no means always, these cliques are composed of old upper-class people; they include the larger businessmen and those who control the banks who usually also have connections with the major real-estate holders. Informally organized, these cliques are often each centered in the several economic functions: there is an industrial, a retailing, a banking clique. The cliques overlap, and there are usually some men who, moving from one to another, co—ordinate viewpoints and decisions. There are also the lawyers and administrators of the solid rentier families, who, by the power of proxy and by the many contacts between old and new wealth they embody, tie together and focus in decision the power of money, of credit, of organization. Immediately below such cliques are the hustlers, largely of new upper-class status, who carry out the decisions and programs of the top-~sometimes antici- pating them and always trying to do so. Here are the "operations" men--the vice-presidents of the banks, successful small businessmen, the ranking public officials, contractors, and executives of local indus- tries. This number two level shades off into the third string men~~the heads of civic agencies, organi- zation officials, the pettier civic leaders, newspaper “See footnote 10, Chapter I, for references. 5c. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), pp. 36-37. men, and,finally, into the fourth order of the power hierarchy—-the rank and file of the professional and business strata, the ministers, the leading teachers, social workers, personnel directors. On almost any given topic of interest or decision, some top clique, or even some one key man, becomes strategic to the decision at hand and to the informal co—ordination of its support among the important cliques. Now it is the man who is the clique's liaison with the state governor; now it is the bankers' clique; now it is the man who is well liked by the rank and file of both Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce, both Community Chest and Bar Association. Power does not reside in these middle-level organi- zations; key decisions are not made by their membership. Top men belong to them, but are only infrequently active in them. As associations, they help put into effect the policy-line worked out by the higher circles of power; they are training grounds in which younger hustlers of the top prove themselves; and sometimes, especially in the smaller cities, they are recruiting grounds for new members of the top. This general statement will serve as a point of departure _—~———-— assumption 93 what 32 expect 29 find £9 23 the case is our community. Power as an important social force.-—The concept of power which has been implicit in the discussion up to this point must now be made explicit. As Max Weber6 concisely put it: In general, we understand by"power" the chance of a man or of a number of men to realize their own will in a communal action even against the resistance of others who are participating in the action. This is the sense in which the concept of power will be 6Gerth and Mills, From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology (New York: Oxford University Press, 19A67, p. 180. 3O utilized in this thesis, and the term "community power structure," then, will refer to the informal aggregates or related vested interest groups in the community--sometimes it may be a local monolithic power elite--that wield such power or have the influence to accomplish those functions Mills ascribed to them above. Unlike Karl Marx, who was a thorough—going economic and materialistic determinist, Weber admits that econom- ically-conditioned power is not identical with "power" as such; but that, on the contrary, the emergence of economic power may be the consequence of power existing on other grounds. Power is not the only basis for social honor; but as Weber points out clearly, . the sentiment of prestige is able to strengthen the ardent belief in the actual existence of one's own might, for this belief is important for positive self-assurance in case of conflict. Therefore, all those having vested interests in the political structure tend systematically to cultivate this prestige sentiment. Indeed, social honor, or prestige, very frequently-has been and may be the basis of political or economic power. The legal order is an additional factor that is closely related and which enhances the chance to hold power or honor; but it cannot always secure them. The way in which social honor is distributed in a community among typical groups may be called the "social order." However, 7Ibid., p. 161. 31 the economic and the social order need not be identical. In Weberian terms, the social order is, of course, condi- tioned by the economic order, in fact to a high degree, and in its turn reacts upon it. gsncepts related to power.--Although they shall not be extensively utilized in this thesis, certain related concepts of power are very important to Weber's scheme, and implicit to ours. "Class," in Weber's terms, refers to the social condition where a number of people share a typical chance for a supply of goods, external living conditions, and personal life experiences insofar as this chance is determined by the amount and kind of power, or lack of such, to dispose of goods or skills for the sake of income in a given economic order. To relate these notions to this thesis, then, and to the power structure studies: one often finds that those individuals who, as informal aggregates or vested interest groups, make up either the power elite or community power structure quite often belong to the same class. The important difference for Weber between classes lies in the clear distinction he makes between owners and non-owners of property and productive resources. For Weber, a "class situation" is ultimately a "market situation” in which "classes" are stratified according to their relations to production and acquisition of goods. "Status groups" are stratified according to principles of the consumption of 32 goods as represented by special styles of life. An occu- pational group is also a status group which successfully claims social honor only by virtue of the special style of life which may be determined by it. For purposes 9i this thesis, one can posit that the community power structure consists sredominately, and especially ss its highest level, 9i those individuals joined is aggregates 93 vested interest groups who share, more 93 less is common, s class position, status, and occupational niche. Those individuals gs the highest level will tend £2 Es those susinessmen previously sentioned—-the manufacturers, bankers, merchants, et cetera. Working hypotheses linking CPS* members to hospital boards. When a new hospital makes it appearance in a small community such as Mills Springs, its advent will usually be heralded by social change of some degree of importance and the event will not usually take place in isolation from other change events in the community. These changes will be conditioned by the same general societal forces which were referred to in the introduction as: (l) the increase in population, (2) the spread of communication and trans— portation networks, and (3) the developments and expansion in technology. is will ss the community power structure ss the local level, however, that siii serve predominantly Es ‘ *- CPS refers to Community Power Structure. 33 initiate, expedite, s: braks the process of change according 29 the dictates 92 their community's way 93 life, values, and philosophy. To account for these relationships, we shall use the following working hypotheses. (l) Ws have the expectation that the new arrangements for fulfilling the community's sealth needs will, 29 some gsgree, disturb the status quo 9i certain elements is the community. We expect this to be the case in a small community such as Mills Springs, in which the rate of change can be seen to be quickening, but in which certain community segments resist and resent change. (2) Ws expect Es find that the participants is the process 9i getting s new hospital and those serving 2s its board will occupy certain stations is local life and that every sigh-ranked sarticipant will have ss important influence is the setting-up si s new sospital because si his important stations 93 offices is the community. (3) Ws expect Es find that every centrally important participant is the hospital issue 93 project emerged from s sackground which gave him special advantages: s background 9i offices held, family, status, Kinship sositions, and Bower position is the community. In addition to position, however, ss expect that (A) each sajor participant will have had s history 9i social interactisns with his fellow citizens which set sp s gsmmunity image 23 his capabilities. The individual will have been granted permission to legitimately make the 3A necessary decisions in getting a new hospital started because he frequently will be a living public symbol of the values by which the community is unified. (5) Ws expect that these members will ss is the high income bracket 9i the community. They will be able to give freely of their time and money. However, to stop at an analysis of this social process of recruitment of hospital founders is not suffici- ent for purposes of this thesis, since the pattern of power and its issues context, as this affects hospital-community relations, is our main analytical objective. Moreover, such an analysis would not tap the inherent conflict situations that often exist in various issue situations and which may determine the stands members of the various vested interest groups will take in subsequent issues. To investigate this very important aspect of the problem requires an analytical and theoretical scheme that can account for issue situations and change in a developmental or genetic fashion. , To collect the data for the case study and to make it theoretically meaningful on a less abstract level, i.e., to relate our field observations directly to our theoretical framework and conclusions, we relied on more empirically- oriented action theories, studies dealing with the resolution of social issues, with conflict situations in communities as these were affected by power considerations. 35 Empirically-Oriented Action-Conflict Theories There are two empirically—oriented ”action-conflict" theories available in sociology that deal directly with the problem relevant to this thesis. They are: the theory of community conflict, advanced by James S. Coleman, and the theoretical work on power structure of William H. Form and Delbert C. Miller. Coleman's Community Conflict Theory Coleman, in his approach, sets out to delineate the possible setting and initiation of controversy, the dynamics of controversy, and the factors affecting the course of controversy. We have taken the liberty of adapting certain of his theoretical findings to our theoretical framework. Coleman's theoretical approach has direct relevance to our problem, in that it deals with the examination of communities under stress resulting from issues or outright conflict. The research procedure dictated by such an approach consists of an analysis of the social organizations (or structures involved) and the social processes (or functions) as they are involved in the controversy or con- flict. Setting and initiation of controversy.--Community disagreements can serve as a measure of community life, just as well as community agreement can. Of course, com- munities differ widely in the degree to which community 36 life is important to argue about. Generally, there seems to be more opportunity for community controversy to occur in a small community than in large cities where less wide- spread controversy occurs. In contradistinction to the small community, we find only a few activists concerned in the controversy occurring in a large city. As with com- munities, we find that some organizations show more partici- pation than others in the controversy. Community involve- ment, thus, is an important element in the setting and the initiation of controversy. Kinds of events and crises.--The kinds of events and the crises they create are another set of important elements. One must examine the type of event and the kind of community in which it occurs to be able to explain a pattern of conflict. Both elements are necessary and are of equal importance. With regard to the events and incidents which lead to dispute, Coleman has the following to say: If the differences in events and in communities which lead toward unification, division, or defeat are closely examined, the following three criteria become evident in the development of controversy out of an event: (a) The event must touch an important aspect of the community members' lives--education of their children, their means of livelihood, religion, taxes, or something similar. Obviously, different areas of life are important to different communities, to dif- ferent people within a single community, and at 8 Coleman, op. cit., p. A. 37 different periods of time. (b) The event must affect the lives of different community members differently. A tax proposal, for example, affects propert owners one way and non-property owners another. (c Finally, the event must be one on which the community members feel that action can be taken--not one which leaves the community helpless. These events and incidents which lead to dispute may derive from internal or external sources. A clear dis- tinction can usually be made between disputes which arise internally and those which arise as a result of external influence. Such controversies as fluoridation, church con- flicts, and political uprisings such as those in Southern towns are purely local issues, or internal. In the case of the Scarsdale and Pasadena school conflicts which centered around local school figures and yet made national news, the conflicts were local in origin but fed on national issues. Industrialization in Southern communities and con- flicts resulting from the Supreme Court desegregation ruling are examples of externally-initiated conflicts. Especially since World War II, community conflicts have been more often related to national affairs than they once were. More ef- ficient modes of communication and transportation have accelerated this trend. Concomitant with the nationalization of issues, however, is the fact of increasing economic centralization in which the economic fate of a community may often rest in the hands of men who have never passed through town. 38 Content of issues.—-The content of the issue and the area of life it affects determine to a degree the conflict situation in a particular community. There are three im- portant general areas of life roughly distinguishable: (l) the economic, (2) that of power or authority, and (3) that of cultural values (or beliefs). A fourth important basis of response derives from the attitudes toward particular persons or groups in the community, rather than from atti- tudes toward a policy, event, or incident. The economic area of life generally involves a large number of the com- munity members in conflict. In the struggle for pOWer only a few are usually affected: those who stand to gain office, and those who stand to lose it. Often conflicts may result from existing hostility between two groups in the community. In such a case, the issue is just a part of a continuing conflict. Actually, an issue may be fed by one or more of these bases of response. In a school bond issue, for example, we often find that it is concerned with economic interests of importance when low taxes are discussed; we find particular philosophies of education espoused by the antagonists; and there may be a conflict for power involved. The men on the same side may have different interests or bases of response to an issue such as this. We may sum up this point with a quote from Coleman:9 9Ibid., p. 6. 39 An incident, event, or problem requiring solution faces a community, and meets differing responses among the members as it touches upon areas of life which act as bases of response to the event. These bases of response, pPimarIly economic interests, power and values, provide the initial dynamics for the controversy. They drive a nucleus of adherents to carry forward the dispute, to expand and intensify it until perhaps the whole community is involved. Now that we have examined the types of events or issues, it is necessary to look at the conditions for con- troversy--that is, at the kinds of communities. Conditions for controversy.--Communities differ widely with respect to their economic system. Some are self-contained towns in which men both work and live. Agricultural towns, one-industry towns, and small and diversified industrial towns are of this kind. Towns in which most men live but do not work are best illustrated by suburban "bedroom" communities. Resort towns are largely economic service organs for non-resident groups. Economic disputes are most intense and common in economically self-contained towns, because there economic disputes often concern men's livelihoods as well as their taxes. Labor—management disputes are of this order, as are farmer-merchant disputes. Commuters find it very difficult to place the blame for their economic frustrations at the door of local mer- chants, businessmen, or next-door neighbors. However, sss issues can be important sources of controversy in any community, but particularly in suburbs where many residents AO own their own homes. Most controversies in suburban towns, however, have centered around differing values: educational values, political beliefs, and patriotic concerns.lO There are several reasons why men who live side by side in suburban communities should hold different values. One is the great mobility these people have; another is the fact that the communities have often been settled in two or more"waves," creating "old residents" and "newcomers" who are frequently of different age groups, different ethnic groups, and live in different sections of town. Finally, if men commute to work at diverse tasks in a large city, their values may wander apart, with nothing to pull them back within a "range of tolerance." Suburbanites may live for years next door to some- one with radically—different views; they mind their own business until some important community decision must be made or until someone attempts to impose his views on a community institution like the school system. Although communities with different economic struc- tures differ widely in the kinds of controversy they generate, a particular kind of controversy is not specific to a par- ticular kind of community. With changes in time certain bases of response may receive more emphasis than others. Religion, for example, appears to be a less important value over which community conflict develops than it once was. School controversies, on the other hand, seem to occur just as frequently, if not more SO . lOlbid., p. 7. 1 Those interested in a discussion of service towns may consult Coleman, op. cit., p. 5. 41 Population shifts may bring about an increase in community conflict over heterogeneous values.l2 At some time or another mass migration may deposit a whole new group of people into an existing community. Often, these newcomers differ from the natives in their "styles of life"; they may have different religions, different cultural backgrounds, different occupations. The resulting "community" consists of two very dissimilar parts; and unless extraordinary measures are taken to integrate them, they can remain distinct groups for as long as a hundred years. Existing cleavages in a community are the results of past controversy. These cleavages are very important in predisposing the community to respond to any kind of pre- cipitating event, whether precipitated by economic interests, political power, or values. Although Coleman's theory is no well-developed theory of community conflict, still his attempt to specify general patterns in the initiation of controversy is important and suggestive. In analyzing a number of recent school contro- versies, for example, he specifies these three elements as seemingly crucial to the initiation of the dispute:13 1. The existence in the community of a few extreme activists, who gain moral support, and sometimes information leaflets, etc., from national sources; 2. The existence of a national climate of fear and suspicion concerning internal subversion; 3. The lack of close and continued relations between school administration and community organizations representing conservative as well as liberal segments of the population. 12Ibid., p. 7. l3ltid., p. 7. A2 Further, Coleman finds a large class of conflicts occurring which he thinks can be thought of as revolts against an administration. versies, 1“ Certain fluoridation contro- certain school and industrial disputes, and dis- putes over continuation of city manager plans are so characterized. l. 2. The administration in power becomes the defendant is the sontroversy WHich snsues. A few active oppositionists, men who are continually In opposition, oppose the administration. These men are sometimes motivated by the hope of power, t_t :Tten they are ideologic_le committed to a cause. In the recent—school controversies,_th§se have often been men who are sincerely convinced the schools are subversive, men who are against all modern trends in education, or whose whole political philosophy is far to the right of present-day parties. A large group exists--often the majority of the people--who are ordinarily inactive, acquT_sttfit to the administration, but not actively supporting it. In many school controversies, this is the large segment of the community, neither very liberal nor very conservative, which take little interest or active part in school affairs. An active group exists, usually a minority of the ESpulation, whb continually suppBrt administtatTEs policies, and who are responSible for putting the adminiSEration in BTTice in the first place. TH— school controvetties, thiE—includes the P. T. A., the school board, and other laymen who take part in school-community activities. The large passive group, or a art of it, becomes attive in one or two ways. TaIa a cEEngE in general climtte of—Epinion, reinforced 5y natitnal mass media and by current events, mobilites certai in baSic values and—d1 ispositions; (b) the administration commits a series or blunderstin matters whith are of considerable impo—tance to members of this passive— majority. lulbid., p. 8. 43 0‘\ The ideologically-committed active oppositionist is now able Es use‘this new hostile Etmosphere £2 gain his ends. Certain cases may be found which lack one or another of the previously-mentioned elements. Not all community controversies develop along these lines. ise dynamics of controversy.--Once controversies start, they resemble each other remarkably, according to Coleman. Three fundamental changes in issues appear to take place: (1) Specific issues give way to general ones. (2) New and different issues emerge which are unrelated to the original ones. (3) Disagreement shifts to antagonism. If there are deep cleavages of values or interests in the community, a small spark of an incident may set them off. In contrast to this type of situation, there may be a power struggle situation in a community where deep cleavages do not exist and no profound shift from specific to general occurs. There are two sources for the diversification of issues. One is ”involuntary," in that topics formerly suppressed by stable relations are allowed to rise to the surface when those relations are broken. The second source for the diversification of issues, especially in politics, involves purposive moves on the part of the antagonists. The antagonists bring about the solidification of opinion and involve new participants in the issue by providing new 15 bases of response. Coleman remarks that: 15lbid., p. 10. 44 As in an argument between friends, discussion which begins with disagreement on a point in question often ends with each disliking the other. Changes in community social organization.-—While changes in the content and character of issues are going on, the whole structure of community organizations and associ- ations is changing, also. There is a polarization of social relations taking place as the controversy develops, in which associations of people within each group flourish, but in which they wither between persons on opposing sides. Therefore, two factions tend to develop, breaking apart along the line of least attachment. Partisan organizations may form in communities where there are no existing nuclear organizations on the two sides. New leaders tend to take over in an issue as these organizations are formed, and real nuclei develop around each opposing faction. Community organizations tend to be drawn into the conflict as an issue develops. However, as Coleman16 notes: At the same time there are often strong pressures, both within the organization and without, to remain neutral. From within: if its members hold opposing sentiments, then their disharmony forces the organi- zation itself to remain neutral. And from without: the organization must maintain a public position in the community, which might be endangered by taking sides in a partisan battle threatening to split the community. In some, both community organizations and com- munity leaders are faced with constraint when a dispute arises; the formation of a combat group to carry on the controversy and the emergence of a previous unknown as the combat leader are in part 16Ibid., p. 12. I: \h it le organizations d the new organi- u l shackles of esults of the immobility of respons and leaders. Both the new leader an zation are freed from some of the us community norms and internal cross -p1 make pre -existing orroanatione and l soften the dispute. 17 On an informal level: Word of mouth communication gradually fills the ga s both in volume and in content, left by the mass media. Street— —corner discussion amplifies, elaborates and sually distorts the news that it picks up from the papers or the radio. This interpersonal co ommunicat offers no restraints against slander and personal charges; rather, it helps make the rhetoric of con- troversy consistent with the intensity. H. on Coleman notes that there is a reciprocal causation between social and psyc chological polarization which results in the division oi the communitl into two socially and attitudinally separate camps. Each is convinced it is bsolutely right.‘ The extent to which this process will m s dependent upon the characteristics of the people and 1 3'4 0 f—J. the community in question. Thus, we have a polarization and intensity of response build up within individuals and within each camp. The chain of mutual enforcement of these tendencies lies completely within the individual, according to Coleman. Coleman posits a ”Greslm m's Law of Conflict," which in essence claims that the harmful and dangerous elements in a community controversy drive out those which would keep the conflict within bounds. The important role of the "third force," or the neutral elements in a community controversy which act as a governor, must be considered, however. 46 Factors affecting course of controversy.--ln analyzing the factors which affect the course of controversy, it is necessary to note the impact that the structure of authority has in community conflict. in most school con- troversies, for example, the critics generally are in opposition to the school administration or the school board. The most obvious place to look for factors affecting the initiation or development of issues is in the methods that the incumbent administration has used in the past to handle problems. if a community has established a pattern of handling problems through a city father, then problems ar likely to be handled that way in the future; or if it has a history of solving its problems through town meetings, then problems will be handled that way. These differing procedures, in turn, have quite different effects on the development of controversy. Decision-making power is political power, and in every community this political power is distributed in a certain way. Actually, the matter is consid- erably more complicated than a single distribution of power. There are numerous kinds of decision and numerous stages; power may be distributed differently for different kinds and different stages. The simplest example is that of a representative democracy, with a legislative, executive, and judicial branch. Each of the three branches has power in particular kinds of policy decisions; the voters, in contrast, have power at a particular stage. That is, they decide who shall make the decision. Even where the political structure is not so formal (and the effect of pressure groups and public opinion makes it evident that even in civil politics, real power does not necessarily coincide with these formal lines), it may be equally complex. Indeed, the multitude of variations in the matter of community opinion suggests that informal distribution is far more complex than formal. 8 ibid., p. l5. 147 In the small, closely knit community which has a rather well-defined set of organizations, and which has a high level of interlocking memberships to which the com- munity leaders belong, a two-party political system is hard to maintain. In most such communities the leaders see each other both socially and in community affairs daily. There is little room for an act of division, which characterizes a two-party system among the business elite in a large com- munity. The case studies reported in the literature point out that, in the few continuing divisions present in com- munities, personal hostility remaining from past conflicts and not genuine, enduring disagreement over policy matters, are most common. Very often, as in the case of school con- troversies, there are conflicting expectations about realms of authority on the part of the administrative in-group and an out—group. In communities undergoing changes to suburbanization or those growing rapidly, people with different sets of expectations about school administration, community services, government, and the like, are brought together; and conflict may ensue. Effect of social structure upon controversy.—- Previously, the effects of the course of controversy on the social structure of the community were examined. However, the social structure has a reciprocal effect on the course of controversy. As such, social relations serve as bases A8 of response. Economic interests, power interests or values may initiate disputes. After the dispute has been generated, a second kind of response makes its appearance. People respond to a conflict situation on this level in terms of their previous associations, antagonisms, and attachments to other people and groups in the community. Therefore, one‘s existing relations with, and feelings toward, persons already involved in the dispute draw him into it. This is accomplished by means of identification or by a reference to the group. The formal and informal associations in the community and word-of-mouth communication outside of organizations become important processes through which people are drawn into disputes. It appears that in the smaller town, with its greater incidence of personal attach- ments and dislikes, more people are likely to be drawn into a controversy. In a town the associations appear to draw the upper and middle classes into a controversy to a greater degree than people of the lower class. The upper and middle classes are more fully integrated into organizational life than is the lower class, which enters a dispute and issue when it is economically and socially depressed and frustrated or dissatisfied. In general, the lower class has limited organizational ties. Its members' lives are involved in personal relations and bread-and-butter issues, rather than in abstract issues. 49 In city-wide elections, turnouts are generally low and consist primarily of those people who are most attached to general community affairs. Large turnouts occur when issues are hot, and the larger proportion of unattached or uninvolved take interest in a particular community issue. In addition to having general effects in an issue, material interests may be involved in affecting an issue through organizational or personal ties, where a person or organization can reward or punish activity. It goes without saying that the response of community organizations and leaders has its effects on the course of controversies. There are four variations in the social organization of the community which appear to be crucial for the course of controversy. They are variations in: (1) community identification, (2) density of organizations and associations in the community, (3) the distribution of participation among citizens, and (A) the interlocking of organizational membership. Communities whose members are highly involved in community activities will have more controversies. The feelings of the members will be more intense about the issue. Their community spirit may work against making a "fight to the finish" out of a particular issue by inhibiting the use of personal attacks. Constraints exist because the value of the community as a whole overrides the importance of other values to the would-be attacker. Again, community spirit may not allow dispute to degenerate from a 50 19 disagreement over issues to direct antagonism. Identification with the community thus interrupts the process of degeneration of conflict at the crucial point: where it turns from disagreement to direct antagonism. It is this antagonism, together with the personal attacks which go along with it, that leaves scars on a community, creating lasting cleavages and increasing the likelihood of future conflicts. Community identification helps preserve the form of controversy, restricting it to those procedures nec- essary to resolution of the problem, and inhibiting those which create lasting bitterness. Organizational density refers to the proliferation of organizations and associations within a community. Organizational density may have direct or indirect effects on a dispute. In a direct sense, it is likely to pull in a whole community into a dispute. Indirectly, it may create a psychological identification with the community. High organizational density tends to not only draw the community into controversy, but also serves to contain and regulate controversy. With regard to the distribution of participation, we find that the prolific Joiners are the upper and middle class people. The lower class people Join less or not at all. In this same vein, we find that some community organ- izations do not take sides in the controversy by tradition. Speaking of interlocking of memberships, Coleman 0 has the following to say:2 lglbid., p. 21. 2OIbid., p. 22. Organizational affiliation and informal relations provide the chain which links different members of the community together; if these affiliations are confined mostly within ethnic groups or economic strata or religious groups, and fail to tie these groups to one another, the lines of cleavage are already set. Coleman has, at various points, discussed the effects of the community's economic structure in inhibiting or promoting community conflict. At one point.21 he summarizes these effects on the three economic variations which he noted. These variations are: service towns, in which towns- people derive their income from outsiders; self—contained towns, in which men both live and work; and economic append- ages, in which most men commute to work outside town. a. In each of these, characteristic issues arise to provoke controversy. In economically self- contained towns it is often issues of direct economic interest and political control; in the others, it is more often value differences deriving from differing backgrounds and experiences. b. In the stratified, self-contained communities, participation in the controversy will ordinarily be restricted to the upper and middle strata, while in the one-class commuting towns it will be more evenly spread throughout the community. c. When lower classes participate in controversy in stratified towns, the dispute is likely to get particularly acrimonious. d. The voluntary aspect of relations among residents who need only to live together and not to work together--a new suburbia-~tends to segregate the community into discreet value-homogeneous groups and to create diverse consequences for controversy. In our discussion of Coleman we dealt primarily with the process of community conflict as it affected the 21Ibid., p. 23. community as a whole. However, our primary concern with issues analysis or community conflict is with the involve- ment of the local community power structure in the issues. We shall, therefore, turn to the work of William H. Form and Delbert C. Miller, who have dealt directly with this aspect of our problem. Form-Miller Theory of Power Structure When the acts of individuals in organizations can impel other individuals in organizations to act on a partic- ular community project or issue, we have what may be defined as community power. Some social scientists make a dis- tinction between the concepts of power and influence; others, such as Form and Miller, do not. We shall follow the examples of the latter. Furthermore, we shall not overly concern ourselves with the source of "influence or power." Some examples of concrete acts of community power include situations where some people do, or get others to do, community committee work, assume leadership roles on various community fund drives, speak to key persons, or give financial support——that is, in general, spearhead and push community affairs. By studying how a policy is formed in the community, how projects are initiated and carried out, and how issues are developed and settled, we can arrive at the dynamics of community power. Community power is brought to bear in problems concerned with inter-institutional relationships or with intra-institutional relationships. Form and Miller22 have devised a typology of industry-community power relations in which business and labor are involved in inter-institutional changes. Although these types have specific reference to business-labor situations, they still comprehend general underlying prin- ciples that find application to other inter-institutional situations. The four types include: (1) The Economic Interest Model, (2) A Public Welfare Model, (3) A Community Hostility Model, and (4) A Status Contest Model. The Economic Interest Model exists when community issues in any institutional sector are usually translated into economic terms, with groups aligning themselves in accord with their general economic interests. A Public Welfare Model is an arrangement in which the general welfare is considered more im- portant than the separate economic interests of industry and labor. A Community Hostility Model exists when a community is arrayed against the private economic interests and institutes punitive measures to change their goals and methods. A Status Contest Model exists when the functional groups struggle not so much over the ends of community action, but over the leadership and methods of achieving com- mon objectives. Although concrete instances of each model may be found, the Economic Interest and Status Contest models recur most frequently in communities of Western societies. Elements of the community power structure may be activated by a variety of issues. Form and Miller describe three major sources of issues. 22The quotations we make in this context are from a pre-publication draft of Form and Miller's Ms. soon to be published: Industry and the Community. Other ideas derive from a community seminar taken with Dr. Form. L1} ,4 (1) One source of issues arises from institutional disturbances. Individual sectors may be unable to resolve internal problems, or conflicts may emerge between two or more institutional sectors. An illustration of the first is a protracted strike which can only be settled by non-economic agencies such as government or a citizens' com- mittee. More commonly, such issues arise within community-wide institutions such as government, education, and welfare. (2) The second main source of issues appears when the community is split in response to changes introduced from outside the community, such as racial integration in the schools, FEPC, and related national movements. (3) Conflicts may also occur over issues or projects which have no special institutional sponsorship, such as the building of a hospital, sports arena, or civic center. The common factors in these conditions which provoke the exercise of community power are that on- going institutional relations are challenged by issues, events, or projects; that decisions are called for that may re-define relations; that there is resistance to a threatened change. The community behavior of some persons in groups may be changed despite their resistance and against their desires. Of course, persons in groups may exert power continuously to maintain community arrangements, to prevent the rise of community issues, and to resist change generally. Five components of community power structure are defined and elaborated by Form and Miller. They consider these components to be important to a consideration of the full range of community power. These components are: (l) The institutional power structure of the society [Whichi refers to the distribution of power among societal institutions. (2) The institutionalized power structure of the community [whichi r5?erS“to the relative distri- Bution of power among local institutions. (3) The community power complex [which] is composed of permanent or temporary organizations, special \n \fl interest associations, and informal groups which act in matters of general community concern, and which are not formally handled by the functioning of local institutions. (u) The top influentials [who] refer to a number of influentiai persons from whom particular decision- makers are drawn into various types of power relations according to the community issues or projects that arise. (5) The key influentials [who] are sociometric leaders among the top influentials in given issues. Although the five components are not thought of as an integrated social structure, they are viewed as inter- penetrating categories, each component successively con- ditioning the following component. The significance of the institutionalized power structure of society lies in the observation that there is a strain for local institutional relations to approximate those of the broader society. The institutionalized power structure of the community refers to: The latent pattern of power relations which reflects the relative importance of the values attached to institutional functions in the society, the relative material resources of the institutions, the relative effectiveness of their sanctions, and their relative ability to initiate societal changes. The dominant institutionalized power structure of society in American society is the economic institution, which has considerable influence in government, education, and welfare. Other institutions are dominated in an oblique fashion by the economic institution. Of course, there will be deviations from the model in individual communities, due to the imperfect integration r: J D of society. The historical accidents, regional differences in resources, and the specialization of the community may account for the deviation from the expected patterns and for the relative dominance of one institution over other institutions. If one looks at the relative dominance of insti- tutions as reflected by the number of representatives they have in the community power structure, one can see that such representatives are usually official heads of the important organizations in the community. They make up the insti— tutional elite. In the economic institution, they are the heads of the largest businesses, banks, labor unions, as well as chief officers in the associations such as the Chamber of Commerce or Central Labor Council. In government they would be the mayor, councilmen, heads of government departments, and similar positions. The institutionalized power structure of the com- munity can be thought as existing without an issue context, since it in essence represents the community power profiles and boundaries. In the Form-Miller scheme component insti- tutions are conditioning forces for the community power complex and do not act as entities. In this context Form and Miller account for conflict in the community by referring to the internal integration of a particular institution. If internal integration is low, intra-institutional conflicts may become community issues. (The reader will recall that Coleman views intra-institu— tional conflict somewhat similarly.) In cases of intra- 57 institutional conflict, institutional elite representatives may become involved in the community power complex directly. The community power complex refers to an arrangement of power distributed among permanent or temporary organi- zations, special interest associations, and informal groups which may emerge and act on specific issues or projects. Issues and projects calling forth such an arrangement are usually those out of the functional purview of local insti- tutions; that is, the local institutions cannot handle or solve these problems through their resources alone. It is an emergent organization which arises out of the interaction of concrete organizations in specific situations. It represents a major source of fluidity in the community power structure. In specific projects or issues the power arrangements among the organizations may deviate considerably from that of the institutional power structure of the community, especially for low- level issues or projects. In high-level issues involving the entire community, the internal power arrangement of the institutionalized power complex tends to approxi- mate that of the institutionalized power structure of the community. Form and Miller attribute a state of equilibrium to the community power complex on the grounds that certain stabilities may appear in its reactions to and involvement in certain types of issues over a period of time. Generally, there is one faction bending its efforts to maintain the status quo and another faction pushing for change on a given issue or project. The balance of power of these forces tends to be maintained over time, although in some communi- ties we may find extreme situations in which one group may be so dominant that there is no effective opposition and no community power complex. 58 Institutions tend to avoid direct controversy as institutions, for they are primarily concerned with internal problems of administration. The same thing is true for officials of churches, government bureaus, welfare organizations, and mass media. They must be cautious and restrained because of the public or semi— public character of their work. Defined as profes— sionals or public servants, they are expected to conform to the conservative, institutional values of the society. If they become too active in community issues, they are made vulnerable by possible loss of their salaried positions. It is their task to advance and protect special interests. They immediately jump into an issue which affects their interests; and seek to join their resources with any group with related interests. Veto power is extremely important in the community power complex, and many organizations devote almost all of their energies to fending off invasions or threats to their vested interests. An important component of community power structure is that of the "Top Influentials." Top influentials are those people who, from among a number of influential persons in the community, are consistently the decision- makers in the community issues or projects that crop up. They are the influential people who have been actively inter- ested and involved in community issues and projects in the past. They have often demonstrated a concern for community problems. They have shown the ability to initiate organi- zation in community affairs and the capacity to influence the direction of associations to which they belong and the policies of community-wide organizations. They have exercised the power to veto a threatening action on the part of others. Not only are they predominantly big busi- ness men, but in some communities lawyers, clergy, labor officials, and other professional representatives may be top influentials. Their organizational memberships and associational offices held are impressive in number, usually; and their political affiliations are not only local, but extend into the state and national spheres. Irrespective of their leadership ability, the test of their membership within the top influentials is whether their influence extends over persons and associations over which they do not have formal authority, and in areas in which they have no direct economic interests. The solidarity of top influentials can be determined by observing the interpersonal relations of these people who initiate major community policy, direct major community projects, and veto certain modes of procedure in the solution of major issues and projects. These observations should cover a span of years, and a series of issues, to adequately portray such a pattern and trend. Attention should be focused on the following impor- tant group features of various communities to get at the particular pattern of top influentials. (l) The type of issue or project: Are the same top influentials found in all issues, or do they vary with each? (2) Size: Is the top influentials a large or small group, and does it vary in size according to the issue or project? (3) Tenure: Is membership among the top influentials provisional or more or less permanent; closely related, is there high or low circulation of membership among the top influentials? (A) Recruitment: Do the top influentials occupy their position by virtue of holding other hereditary positions, or do they achieve the role of top influentials; that is, is the top influential status achieved or ascribed? ’ CO (5) Internal solidarity: Do the top influentials comprise a highly solidary and cohesive collectivity who act in concert in all major projects or issues, or are they a non-solidary body with each individual acting more or less independently of the other? (6) Do the top influentials independently make all the important decisions, or do they consult with all groups which may be affected by their decision? From an analysis combining these features Form and Miller find it possible to delineate possible types of top influence structures. Briefly, these types include: (1) Democratic, (2) Fluid Influentials, (3) Core Elite, and (4) Exclusive Elite. At the one extreme, the Exclusive Elite Type is made up of a few elites who have more or less inherited their position, which they occupy for life. They are a relatively small, cohesive, and exclusive group, who make unilateral decisions for the community. This type tends to be found: (a) in one-industry towns where the dominant family asserts authoritative control, (b) in communities with a solidary ruling aristocracy, and (c) in communities dominated by a strong economic—political clique with its claque. At the other extreme is the Democratic type. There is no limitation on the size of the top influ- entials here, for its membership tends to change with the type and seriousness of the issue or project. Here the top influentials constitute a highly individ- uated and temporary social system of associational representatives who have little independent and enduring power. In the extreme case, this definition almost characterizes some types of community power complex structures having no top influentials. The Democratic type of top influentials structure tends to be found in new communities which may be in the process of developing top influentials, and in communities in which all major groups are highly organized and have more or less equal power. The two middle types, the Fluid Influentials and the Core, comprise the most current types in contem- porary Western society. The two types vary primarily in the size of the elite core and the ease of access into the top influentials. To be sure, in both types , bl there is some degree of fluidity in internal organi- zation. Thus, the type of issue or project tends to involve different influentials, although a core of influentials varying in size tends to be found in most issues. Some degree of mobility in and out of the top influentials is found in both types of struc- ture. Furthermore, the individuals undertake to consult with some groups which may be affected by local projects and issues, although they always retain some independent authority. It may be convenient at times to think of the two fluid types as being com- prised of first and second rate influentials, as Hunter does; or it may be convenient to think of the core elite as key influentials. The distinguishing charac- teristic of the latter is that they are selected as leaders by other influentials. Form and Miller recognize the heuristic value of these types and admit that the top influentials structure may vary according to the issue or the type of cleavages existing in the community, and may not be a homogeneous solidary system. For example, in many communities rapid industrial- ization has created basic cleavages between the oldtimers and the newcomers. In such a case, the oldtimers may develop into an exclusive elite type of top influential structure, while the newcomers resemble the fluid influ- entials in this respect. Form and Miller note that there is a hierarchy in the power wielded by various components of the community power structure and in the importance of the decisions made. Usually, community power complex influentials and leaders of various institutions initiate low-level issues or projects, while high-level issues are primarily initiated by top in- fluentials or community power complex members. PART II. ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS CHAPTER III COMMUNITY SETTING General Characteristics Mills Springs is a small typical midwestern town located in rural central Michigan. It is one hundred miles distant from a large metropolitan city. It is situated within commuting distance of several large towns and cities. There are at present some eight manufacturing plants in Mills Springs, employing approximately six hundred people. Light fabricating and stamping, paper packaging products, dairy production and sales, pickling, and woolens manu- facturing comprise the main industries. Agriculture is an important form of livelihood in the economic activities of Mills Springs. The chief types of farming include dairy products, livestock and livestock production other than dairy and poultry, poultry and poultry products, and field crops. Until the late 1930's, Mills Springs was primarily noted for several decades for its woolen industry. For some four or five decades one of its woolen mills companies was a nationally recognized producer and enjoyed a national distribution of its products. Its blankets, yarns, coatings, auto robes, and upholstery fabrics were its main products. 63 w a, .4.“ -y" H v .1 'n‘. . 64 With the development of synthetic fabrics and with certain technological improvements, and changes in automobile design and use of fabrics, this company lost its ability to compete and its industrial position and is no longer in manufacturing. However, it does maintain its main local retail outlet, selling products of other firms. Only one of Mills Springs woolen mills still engages in the production of wool and merino yarns. This company also manufactures a line of wool socks. In the past there were two other major industries in Mills Springs: one manufacturing oil and gas furnaces, blowers, and filter package units; and the other, industrial fabricating of steel flasks and light equipment for the foundry trade. As of 1950 Mills Springs had an assessed valuation of $4,497,200 with a tax rate of $25 per $1,000 valuation-- one of the lowest in the state. Mills Springs has had no bonded indebtedness to speak of. Its bank resources are approximately $2,100,000; and its bank deposits, $1,900,000. It has an authorized building and loan capital stock of $150,000 and postal savings of about $350,000. Its retail sales volume is about $2,000,000 annually; and it is a retail center for a trade area with a ten mile radius and a population of 7,500. Transportation facilities include the New York Central Railroad and the Short Way Bus Line. A privately- 65 owned airport is publicly operated, and it possesses 2,500 foot runways. 0f its twenty miles of streets, ten miles are paved. River mileage is three miles. The form of city government in Mills Springs is the The city owns the library. The city commission system. distributes water and utilities. It operates a fairly new sewage disposal plant. There are a high school with a manual training division, two elementary sChools (one in the process of being built), a lighted athletic field with a 2,000 seating capacity, and a centrally located city park in.which weekly band concerts are given during the summer season. Recreation facilities also include a motion picture indeater, bowling alley, and a youth headquarters. There are ten denominational churches in town, the bLle of them Protestant. There is one newly constructed community hospital . A weekly newspaper, The Mills Springs Journal, is Dulalished, which handles community and area news predom— inearltly. A veterans' organization has its national home for orpldzins four miles southeast of Mills Springs. The present population of Mills Springs is unoffi- cial 1y estimated at about 14,000 people. In the 1940 United Statzeess census its population was 3,060. In the 1950 United States census it was 3,509. The latest official estimate Of 1953 places its population at 3,780. The per cent of 8.113 change in population between 1940 and 1950 was 1A.7; of the 1950 to 1953 period, 7.7. The Mills springs racial composition figures in the 1950 United States census reveal that less than one per cent, or only five people of its population of 3,509 were non— Caucasians. There were only two Negroes in the community Ninety-seven per cent and only three people of other races. of the population were native-born whites; three per cent, foreign-born. Of the 97 per cent of the population, the reat majority of these were of Anglo—Saxon stock. Thirty— 11'; .five per cent of the population were in the under 20 age 5 per cent in the 20-6A age group; and 13 per cent [\) group; in. the 65 and over age group. look at the occupational structure of Mills Springs D .1 J ShCUWS that the bulk of its working force works outside of Idi1_1s Springs proper. It is estimated that most of these Decog>le work in three large cities nearby and commute to work. thong) of the men and women are state workers; they also work 111 tflde automobile plants in the capital and in other local 0 1 bzruicating plants. With the decline of the local industries. {:3 espezczially the woolens mills, many people sought employment in tines outlying communities. It was with the development of nighifliigy systems and more rapid means of communication and tran-E?EDQrtation that these people sought outside jobs. According to over half of our informants, new people rave ITdcoved into Mills Springs to live in a small town 67' atmosphere, attracted also by its lower taxes and lower living costs in general. The politics of Mills Springs is predominantly Republican. The city elections are non-partisan, and we find in the city government both Republicans and Democrats working together. 0n the whole the community is very con— servative and very Republican. Although partisan politics plays a small part locally in the community, on the state- national levels the opinions of the populace are vehemently expressed and tend to be, as we have said, very conservative. During the Roosevelt administration, especially, was there an expression of this sentiment. During the depression the cornrnunity still voted straight Republican. Mills Springs has its share of fraternal organi- zat ions, as do all small communities. There are the Masons, Rebecca Lodge, the Independent Order of Odd-fellows, the service clubs--Lions, Kiwanis, Rotary, Junior Chamber of Commerceuand various ladies' clubs, to mention only a few. The two major churches in the community are the Mathodist Episcopal Church and the First Congregational Church. It is to these two main churches that the upper Class and the upper middle class, if we so call them (the power elite), belong. The other churches are the First Baptist Church, which is (from reports) the third largest in the community; then, St. Peter's Catholic Church, the A dventist Church, the Wesleyan Methodist Church, the Church 68 of the Nazarene, the United Brethren Church, the Spiritual- ist Episcopal Church, the Pilgrim Holiness Church, and the Church of God. There was formerly in the community an LEpiscopal Church, but there is no longer one in Mills Sparings. However, there is a chapel that the Episcopalians cxf the community use that is located at the Veterans' Nzational Home that we mentioned previously. Brief History of Mills Springs Industrial DevelopmentT Mills Springs was founded in 1836 by a group of Ipixoneers trekking westward. Mills County, in which Mills SIpirings is located, was named after a national cabinet offlficer of that period. Because of its ample water supply and its forested viczinity, Mills Springs was chosen as the site of a sawmill; arni from its initial lumber production, Mills Springs was A grist mill and a dam were built in 1838, a canal built. In 1844 to cnonsolidate the available water power in 1842. and the necessary machinery In 1846 a calwding mill was erected, instxa]_led for wool carding and cloth dressing. a fOLUdLiry was started, and in 1855 a cabinet shop was erecteaci. This was the early industrial base of pioneer Mills ESprings. ‘ st 1This account is based in general upon local and ate cic>cuments and upon accounts given by our informants. Through the years Mills Springs' water supply has weighed heavily in its industrial development. in fact, the original town proper, now the business district, was Today it is connected to the rest of the C); (on an islan H ‘bown by several bridges. Hence, the nickname "island City ESesides becoming a watering place for the pioneers heading f‘urther west, Mills Springs early became the site for Knamerous saw and grist mills and carried on a heavy trade .111 lumber in the vicinity while the forests held out. it :aansported its products on the Grand River and overland. in the 1860‘s mineral wells were discovered in FTiglls Springs, and for a decade or so it became known as Ctae Saratoga of the West." Four fashionable hotels were eerwected at that time around the spas, and the lucrative baasainess in "curative baths" persisted until a series of (jigsastrous fires leveled the major hotels in town. Mills Exorflings was unable to recover from these blows, and its repnatation as a mineral springs resort declined and then variisshed. It is estimated that, for a period in the 70's, as filally as 3,000 visitors were accom dated in Mills Springs' severl hotels and houses at one time, the main attraction being; the spas. During these five decades since its founding, Mills Sprirlé§ss was also developing as a regional rural trade center, 9 " . and niealachants of various lines of basic necessities settled i L. n tflEE growing town. Farmers from the outlying farms 70 brought in regional fruits, vegetables, dairy products, animal stock, and grains for trade purposes. Various banks were established at various times to handle the transactions. (We say banks were established at various times because Inany of these banks failed, due to unstable financial con- ciitions of those decades.) For many decades this basic although some minor changes With the israde pattern has persisted, Iaave occurred within the last two decades or so. cievelopment of better modes of transportation and communi- <321tion, some trade has drifted to other trade centers; and urith the passage of time some farm products have waned in ijnportance, while others have replaced them. Dairying has illcreased to major importance, while fruit growing has declined, for example. Modern Mills Springs Industrial History It was in the 1880's, however, that a new burst of irujiistrial activity took place in Mills Springs, which was ix) sflqape its economic and social life considerably for some fifty years . In 1880 a professional spinner and mill-hand born in YZ>1rkshire, England, Cornelius Sampson, and his wife, a weavezla of paisley shawls, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, purcruzassed the Isle Mill in Mills Springs. Previously, they had 13c>1:h been affiliated with woolen mills in Amesbury, MaSSEiCTPlusetts, where they were wed in 1855. Three children were ‘t>c>rn in Amesbury: Harriet, John, and Peter. In 1867 Paul was born in Lawrence, Kansas, where the family had moved to a farm. Two years later they farmed in Liberty, 8 Missouri; and in 1872 Cornelius Sampson leased a woolen rnill in Troy, Ohio. For the first few years in Mills Springs, the whole ITamily did the work. Harriet was in charge of clerical ciuties; John handled the mechanical end of the operations; EPeter handled trade contacts; and Paul was the mill super- \fiSOP. The market was kind in the reception of their In 1883 gplaoducts, and the mill‘s operations expanded. c321rding, weaving, and finishing machinery was installed. 'ITleir first cloth and blankets were manufactured in 1885. Tflaea contract for uniforms for the vocational school in the c28431ta1 was procured in 1887. In 1900 the physical plant lNaAS increased by breaking new ground. Until World War I ‘thez entire production of the mill was a variety of woven In 1914 knitting machines were installed and This woo len yarns . theny ‘began manufacturing fabric for military puttees. was :Sznmpson's first government contract. Khaki yarn was Spuri :in.1arge quantities, also. During this period of threes decades, it was reported, Sampson's concern became one (3:6' the leading woolen mills in the United States. In 19153 ‘tflaey were incorporated as the Mills Springs Woolen M111J3., and in 1937 were renamed the Sampson Woolen Mills C0m951r157. In World War II they produced blankets and woven and k1"Litted fabrics for the government. 72 The Sampson Woolen Mills became the industrial foundation upon which the Mills Springs economy rested. It maintained this strategic position until the mid-1930's. At one time this industrial organization employed as many 500 men of the town, whose total population for decades was never in excess of 2,500. With this rise in the textile industry and its economic growth in Mills Springs, the Sampson Mills rose in social and political importance in the community, and to some extent in the state. Locally, members of its family or close associates and friends became the power elite of the community, not only in the political sphere and city government, but also in the Methodist Church and other community social endeavors. For all intents and purposes, the town of Mills Springs became a predominantly one-industry town, operated by the Sampson and allied interests. At one time, Mills Springs derived even its light from the Sampson Mill. In 1888 the family had installed a dynamo, and it sold power to light Mills Springs. In 1909 Thomas M. Kingston became associated with the Sampson Mills and was its superintendent from 1916—1920. Kingston was born in Yorkshire, England, on March 17, 1876. In 1903 he married Annie Laurie and came to this country in 1904 to visit his brother, Leo, of Philadelphia, one of the largest wool merchants in the United States at the time. After working for John Wanamaker for some years, Thomas M. 73 Kingston, upon recommendation of his brother, joined Sampson Brothers. In 1920 he resigned his position and went to visit his relations in England; and upon his return from England in 1921, opened the Thomas M. Kingston Woolen Mill. With the aid of his sons, Thomas F., Mark, James, and David, he established a lucrative business in spinning merino yarn, which is used by sporting goods houses. Under contract during World War II they supplied the United States govern- ment with woolen caps and socks for the troops. Sears, Roebuck and Company and Montgomery Ward and Company were also supplied these commodities. In 1926 Albert Langer, a long-time resident of Mills Springs, started the Langer Woolen Mills after having worked for the Sampson Brothers for over a decade. At first he operated a retail store specializing in yarn, yarn goods, and blankets. In subsequent years he installed a wool bat machine as a sideline, and business increased. The firm's line expanded to include jackets, Mackinaws, socks, and snowsuits. Tarpaulin milk can jackets and other types of shipper's supplies were added. His sons, Jerry and Jack, later ran the business. The other major industry in Mills Springs, whose operations have spread outside the Mills Springs area, is the Smith Dairy Farms. This firm was founded by Henry D. Smith in 1896. 74 His parents came to Michigan from New York State in 1867, first settling in Capital Township, Smithfield County, where Henry was born. In 1873 the family came to Mills Springs and purchased a 116 acre farm, which was the nucleus of an expanding dairy farm system of some 1,350 acres. In 1887 Henry D. Smith enrolled at Michigan Agricul- tural College in the Mechanical Engineering Department. He attended for two and a half years, at which time he went back to work the farm. He married in 1896 and, with his wife, began manufacturing ice cream. Their business increased, and they improved the technology of dairying through the years. Their three children—-two sons and a daughter--all *went on to college. The sons, Guy and Carl, received their 28. S. degrees in Agriculture. Guy entered the business and Iqandled the trade operations and advertising, while Carl rnanaged the plant manufacturing processes. The ever—increasing business opportunities led the ESrniths to procure more land, and as of 1952 their holdings Zilncluded eleven farms. They set up retail outlets in six IVIj;chigan cities and one in an Indiana city and in Mills EsflElrings, besides selling their ice cream to other retail outlets in the state. Besides ice cream, the plant produces a wide variety (Dif‘ dairy products. In another city they manufacture eskimo pies, paddlepops, popsicles, and condensed chocolate in a t31131.34ding they purchased not many years ago. 75 In 1936 they purchased the water power of a local district, which was and is used in the operation of their own plant, the balance being sold to the Rural Electrical Administration and consumed in local rural areas. According to over 75 per cent of our informants, until fifteen or twenty years ago, the Sampson and Smith industrial interests controlled the economic and social destiny of Mills Springs. They formed a nucleus called by ' which was socially and rnany informants the "old guard,‘ Certain Ipolitically dominant in the community for decades. tnasiness and professional people in the community were also zillied with this group, and in combination they formed a gyroup powerful enough to keep out new business, new people, aarui to maintain low wages for their non-union labor force. (Dfiills Springs, by the way, has had a long and sometimes and even today, there are bitter history of anti—unionism; <>r11y two unionized plants in town, and those are controlled t>57 out-of-town interests.) The existence of this coalition of interests, 1h11_tni its restrictive and protective policies, was attributed EDEV :nmhy informants to the hard facts of inter-industrial Cfcxntpetition for a labor force. As one informant put it, The woolen industry was never able to compete with the metal industries in this country. Historically, in other parts of the country, as well as in Mills Springs, and in the Mills Springs vicinity especially, rnetal industries were developing by leaps and bounds .and were able to pay their workers a more substantial Inage. The woolen industry, as a whole, was unable to Competition couldn't be IDay the same type of wages. 76 met. They were unable to pay comparable wages, so they had to keep and enforce a lower wage scale. This was the situation here in Mills Springs. The situation reflected on the whole town and kept the town down. Most of the people in the town wanted other industry to come in; but the "old guard" wanted to keep other industry out, and they maintained a control on the town. They wouldn't even have a Chamber of Commerce; had the tax rate structure so fixed that their industrial interests would not be jeopardized. Even population immigration was restricted. For some decades the population was maintained at 2,500. All of this was explicitly done by the interests in command, claiming that there wasn't an industrial base sufficient enough to support any additional population. The majority of our informants also informed us “that there have been only two short—lived Chambers of Chommerce in Mills Springs throughout the years. At one tsime, the people of Mills Springs had an organization <3zalled the Mills Springs Improvement Association. Certain lalisinessmen and people in the community who had some money Eirld who were interested in "improving" Mills Springs donated €£14Ch$100 apiece and hired a part-time executive secretary t3c> handle their business. These people contributed this money and formed this improvement association because they Liliesw that Mills Springs had to have some industry, some E25313 industry coming in, if the community was to expand and filnnzbrove. Also, they had to keep Mills Springs Stamping, “decixch was founded by one of the local residents in Mills Springs, in town, because they had a very desirable invi- t38-1521cm to move to Reed City. The town felt that they had to keep this industry. By contributing this war chest, so tC) ESIDeak, they were able to keep it in town where it 77 eventually has expanded. Eventually, however, even the Mills Springs Improvement Association dissolved. Another facet of the "old guard's' activities was its active and forceful fight against unionization of Sampson Brothers in 1936 and 1937. In those years, the period of labor union expansion, the UAW and the Textile Workers Union had come into Mills Springs to organize the labor force and conduct a strike. As a result of the pro- longed strike and bitter struggle, and subsequent unfavor- aible economic conditions, Sampson was eventually forced to It was only during the first two years of the close. ssecond World War that Sampson Mills again resumed activity 21nd, as a result, gained an uneasy ten-year reprieve. But again, it was forced to close down. Smith Dairy Farms, however, has expanded. It has haeaen able to meet competition from the outside; but, of crcnarse, this is a special type of industrial undertaking aaqci Smith's has not had to face the sort of competition for lzabxar force and market that the Sampson Woolen Mills have raid to. Their product has not been superceded by artificial Stflmsisitutes, such as Sampson woolen goods being superceded by EBsnathetic fibers, nor have they required such a large labcxr' force as had Sampson's. 78 Mills Springs Community Power Structure The commonest techniques2 used to identify the community power structure are dependent upon: (1) locating the power figures with formal status in the local social, economic, civic, and political structures--upon position; or (2) determining these power figures through nomination of "Juries" or local knowledgeable informants--upon reputation. We have used a combination of both these tech- niques to identify the community power structure of Mills Springs. Our procedure was as follows: 1. We arranged appointments with a local attorney 23nd the newspaper publisher, to whom we presented our ggeneral research problem. We asked the attorney for a Iarief history of the community and about its social and eeconomic base. In addition to this information, however, 1163 voluntarily gave us his version of the important past zarud present community issues, the people involved in these isnsues, and the power factions as he saw them, bringing in eaccnnomic interests, religious affiliations, and organi— zational ties of these people to illustrate the alliances. We tuqen asked the same information of the local newspaper ‘ 2Floyd Hunter, Community Power Structure (Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, 1953); R. o. Sckruljrze and I. U. Blumberg, "The Determination of Social Power Elites," A.J.S., November, 1957, pp. 290-296. 79 publisher, who gave a somewhat similar basic picture, but who took a different value position as to the factional divisions involved in the issues. Both mentioned the existence of a small neutralist group. 2. Using this material as a point of departure, we read the available local histories in the Mills Springs and State libraries, the local and, where pertinent, metropoli- tan newspapers for accounts of the local major issues, especially relative to the hospital, the school, and the strike-unionization issues. We noted the recurrence of particular names of individuals and groups and their positions on the issues. 3. We then secured a city directory and proceeded ‘to set up a tentative list of possible leading social, eeconomic, civic, and political figures, utilizing the iJiformation secured in all our previously gathered sources. qfluis list initially contained the names of fifty-two ilidividuals. We also placed them in opposing camps, am:ccmfiing to the positions they seemed to us to have taken 111 ‘the conflict situation involving school consolidation zuqdi annexation. If this factional distribution held for tfiuit: issue, why not for the hospital issue as well, we (Nulejeectured. We, too, included what we considered to be the fanmll neutralist group. A. At the same time, we chose a "Jury" of local, pPeESL‘unably knowledgeable, informants--seven people whom we 80 felt were so due to their strategic formal and informal local positions--to make up a list of people they per- sonally considered most influential in the community. We asked them to list people who were widely acknowledged to have power in the community, and who were active in many issues, either explicitly so or behind the scenes, and to place these names into factional groups if they thought such groups existed in the community. 5. Then we gave them the list of fifty—two individ- uals' names we had drawn up and asked them to assess its accuracy and compare it to theirs. The deletion or addition of any of these names to their list was allowed, as was the :shifting of names among the factions. The reasons the :informants used to either delete or add a name to their iIinal list or to disturb the factional group distribution Vvere carefully recorded; and that informant's relationships 'tc3 the people so redistributed were later ascertained in txerms of their mutual economic interests, values or beliefs, pmarsonal antagonisms, and power positions. Upon examination of the materials received from CNJI’ seven informants, we found that we could arbitrarily Ixnjtice our initial list from fifty-two to thirty-eight nanuess. The fourteen names discarded from the list repre- EflflitSEid nearly unanimous agreement among the informants that 'wuossea people were only remotely connected with the reso- lui:i_<>r1cd‘the hospital or school issues. It was with this 81 revised list of thirty-eight names, which was tentatively arranged into two major factions and a very small neutralist group, that we went out to interview the Mills Springs influentials. After a half dozen interviews we found that a more consistent picture of the power structure was emerging and that we could ask our interviewees to classify the names on our list of thirty-eight into key influentials, those people they considered to be absolutely essential to the resolution of the two issues we dealt with and in other community decisions of important, and into top influentials, those people they considered somewhat less critical to the resolution of important issues.3 We also found that by interviewing top influentials ‘bhe list of same could further be reduced to twenty-two riames. We decided to restrict our interviewing to a few nuare than this number. With the addition of informal inter- xriews, our number reached thirty. There were ten individuals who were unanimously stnarred by the twenty-two we actually interviewed formally as; lcey influentials. These people were stated to be the gggamiers in the issues involving the hospital and school. These ten were also consistently cited by our original Se ve n informants . \i d 3388 Chapter II, Pp-55-58 for more detailed efihitions. (D R) Below these ten another dozen were cited as top but not key influentials. These people were considered to be somewhat less active and critically less important than the above in resolving the two recent issues. The criteria we used to classify these people as top influentials were somewhat arbitrary when we got near the end of the list because the votes of our informants and interviewees varied. What we did then was to include as top influentials those individuals who received at least three votes designating them as such. Key influentials required at least five votes designating them as such. The remaining sixteen individuals on the list of ‘thirty-eight were regarded as less active and important tshan the twenty-two top influentials. We did gather infor- rnation from each of our interviewees on them nevertheless. Because the size of the neutralist group varied VJith the issue, we were forced to arbitrarily assign iridividuals to that category upon the basis of our examin- aision of their stands on many issues. We must confess that ari element of intuition was involved in such assignments. unmannever possible, we directly asked the individuals where they stood on an issue. 6. We revised the questionnaire used by Form and Sauer4 in their investigation of labor and industrial \ 4 . See Appendix, pp. 231-237 for a facsimile of this que 8 tionnaire . ’ 83 leaders' images of their places in the community power structure for our use in Mills Springs. This question- naire gave us information dealing with: (a) the individ- ual‘s personal background; (b) his occupational and work history; (c) his organizational memberships in local busi- ness and professional associations, service clubs, civic or welfare organizations, governmental or political activity fraternal, social or religious associations; (d) the offices he held in these organizations; (e) his attitudes toward and evaluations of the activities of these organizations and community issues; and (f) his description of how the hospital and school issue, especially, and other important issues were resolved in Mills Springs. This information inas necessary to adequately analyze an issue situation taecause we earlier posited that an issue situation indicates 21 state of conflict or tension between competing groups, vflqich recruit their members somewhere in the institutional cxr associational structure of the community. An issue bmecomes of central concern as it affects certain vital irlterests or values of the community members. When these iJItKBPeStS become identified, leaders appear and groups OIE§Einize to seek a final decision favorable to themselves. It i_s these issues that generate great concern, which aIYDlaise the community and offer a singular opportunity to d913€33rmine the pattern of power. There are three factors which determine the out- CCnTlea of a community issue, then. (I) There is the factor 84 involving the critically activated parts of the institu— tionalized power structure and their interests. We find here that the major concern is with the substance of the issue: What is its content? And what are its implications for various sectors? Directly related to this is the level of the issue: What is the "value intensity" of the con- troversy? How do the affected parties see the effects of the issue on their interests? (2) A second factor which is important is the power arrangement of the community power complex--the various individuals, groups, and organi- zations-~as they mobilize and exert influence either for or against an issue. (3) The last factor deals with the solidarity of the top influentials. Key Influentials5 Since the following men were unanimously regarded by our informants and interviewees to be those most respon- sible for plotting and steering the courses that the resolution of the hospital and school issues took, we are presenting somewhat more detailed biographical sketches of the key influentials than of the other top influentials.6 Unfortunately, we were unable to interview Dr. Anker 5The names of these individuals are fictitious. 6Everything in these biographies derives from inter- views taken in the community unless specifically footnoted to other sources. because he was pressed for time by the demands of his profession. Nevertheless, we were able to get reliable information about his participation in the hospital issue from the other informants and interviewees. The one remaining "key influential," Gundersen, refused to be inter- viewed. As it later turned out, however, we did not find his refusal to be too critical because many of the top influentials were of the opinion that his influence and active participation in community affairs were waning. His participation in earlier years was very important. His participation in the two recent issues was slight. Warrington.--Mr. Herbert P. Warrington has lived seventy of his eighty-two years in Mills Springs. For some years his father was a traveling cooper, working in and about Mills Springs, where he finally settled, and where he later ran a cement and construction firm. Among other things, during his youth Mr. Warrington was a cooper's apprentice. Later he was for a time associ- ated with his father's business. Together they built several bridges in Mills Springs. Mr. Warrington graduated from the local high school and worked his way through the University of Michigan, earning a Bachelor of Laws degree. He has practiced general law in Mills Springs for some fifty years. During his many years in Mills Springs, Mr. Warring- ton has prospered and has bought up quite a bit of real estate and property. Many of the new homes in town are being built on his subdivisions. Two of the town's newer industries and the new hospital have been constructed upon .land Warrington sold and donated. He also has holdings in Iflorida and elsewhere. Warrington possesses one-fourth of the stock in t3ke local bank, and he has been a bank director for about f‘ive years. In addition, he owns one-tenth of the stock 'ign.a nearby bank, and he is a director there. All these kioldings make him one of the richest and most independent ITlen in the community. As a result he is also one of the ITlOSt powerful. He is the oldest member of the Kiwanis club and, aid: present, the head of its Law Committee. In the past Flea was vice-president of the club and was very active in iqts program involving summer camps and Boy and Girl Scout £1<:tivities. He is at present the president of the hospital Iacoard. Before the hospital was built, he served as the (:ldairman of the Construction Committee. For twelve years 341?. Warrington had been president of the County Hospital S‘Ll‘pervisory Board. Other of his many activities have included: (I) TSPdta presidency of the School Board for six years, (2) the Ckiairmanship of the Selective Service Board for seventeen 3763611s, and (3) City Attorney for twenty—five years. This latter position has permitted him to direct and keep tabs on city governmental activities for many years. Mr. Warrington has been very active in the Republi- <3an Party. He was elected to the State House of Represen- tmatives and served from 1916 to 1918. He was State Senator ffirom 1932 to 1936. At one time he ran for the office of 1.1eutenant Governor but was defeated. Mr. Warrington is a Methodist and a teetotaler. ‘\Teteran organizations to which he belongs include the .pumerican Legion (which he initiated in Mills Springs and C>f'which he was the first commander) and the Spanish— kaerican War Veterans. Mr. Warrington sees the role of the lawyer as ianortant in all phases of life that may contain legal Eiispects or problems (and very few do not, according to klixn). He feels that he represents, or has represented, tsrie profession of law in all the organizations to which he Iaeelongs, but particularly is this so with respect to the Picnspital board, city government, and the bank board. He fVeels that his participation as a lawyer in these organi- Ziéitions has made a real difference in the general policies C>f‘ these organizations. He thinks that unselfish community Ibéizaticipation is the civic duty of all businessmen, but tSffisat such participation may also expand one's business. Although he felt political participation could some- 't:1JTues be dangerous, Warrington felt he had personally 88 benefited from it. He declared he had received profitable contacts through his political activity. Mr. Warrington exercises considerable influence 111 the community in general, but he has more considerable iiifluence with certain segments of the older people in the ccammunity and with some very conservative farmers in the (blatlying areas. Some of these older people are poor, €311ther retired or pensioned, and can ill-afford higher tszaxes. Others of them are comfortably off, but they also I?€ESiSt the idea of increased taxation. These people and <2ears who admire his old—fashioned rugged individualism. Iic>wever, he has also made hosts of enemies by his procli- \Ii;ties during controversies, and at other times, to indulge i;r1 personal attacks, and invective. Others mistrust his Ilisea of influence and look askance at his inconsistent stands (Drl various issues. They claim that he is out solely to Eirlldance his own pocketbook, power, and glory. Yet, even Fifi—EB most avowed enemies will admit that in the hospital iSSue he was very generous with his time and money. To say tJPIGB very least, he is a controversial figure. .-- Mr. Al Band has lived in Mills Springs &)J Pan thirty years. He was born in 1893. the son of a farmer, in a small hamlet in illinois. After eleven years of scrhooling he went to a railroad school for one and a half ywears, where he learned the duties of station agent and tealegrapher. He has worked for the New York Central Tail- Idcoad for forty-three years in that dual capacity. The las .f‘iiteen years he has served as the station agent in Mills Elgorings. On and off he has been a house-builder, having ELIJilt five houses in Mills Springs. Mr. Band is very active in community affairs. :§%3€&US€ his job permits it,he devotes a great deal of time board member of p: 13;) community activities. He has been iziie Community Activities Council for nine years and is an axonorary member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce. He has kzeaen a member of the Lions Club for over ten years and was ‘1 ts president in 1952. At one time he was also a member crf‘the Kiwanis Club. He has served on the Community Chest's eesaecutive board and was its treasurer for two terms. Since 1‘342 he has been a Mills Springs City Commissioner and at f—J- \Jzirious times has been act ng mayor. He belongs to the ClCT:1ng:“egz«:tions;l Church and is a Mason. bhn Randdoes not feel that he represents any busi- professional, or governmental group in the organiza- 13ions to which he belongs. However, he does feel that Q bllSinessmen should serve in organizations where their 90 immediate business interests dictate, and not join all varieties of organizations. Mr. Rand ranks the importance of political partici- pxation as nil on the local level as far as he is concerned, sstating that "you are a no good S. O. B. if you don‘t f‘ill your role, and a S. O. B. if you do it." Many of our informants pointed Mr. Rand out as the ITLan who, with help from Mr. Warrington, actually runs the c: ity government. Most of them agreed he does this with the crommunity's welfare in mind. A few people, however, view him with derision as a "politician" and the "Talleyrand of Ibqills Springs; you can't tell which side he‘s on." In the t:wo recent community issues both factions had good things tso say of him, even though he was closely identified with ibqld.‘Warrington's position on the school issue. Smith.--Mr. Guy Smith was born in Mills Springs in 2L5395. His father was a farmer and an ice cream manufacturer. .Pnfter getting his college degree in agriculture, Mr. Smith vvenat to work for his father's firm. He has worked for the ESInith Dairy Farms, Inc., for forty-eight years and has been 21138 president since 1953. Mr. Smith has been vice-president of the local bank Elrld is presently a board member. He is on the board of Ciiii-Zr‘ectors of the Rotary Club and is chairman of its Commun- i-tSSI Activities Committee. Mr. Smith is a recent member of the hospital board and heads the hOSpital Building and GPOUnds Committee. 91 Mr. Smith also holds membership in the local American Legion (which he helped organize), the V. F. W., the Masons, the Elks, and the Centrapolis Country Club. He is a Methodist and serves on the church's board of trustees. Mr. Smith does not feel that he personally repre- sents his business in any of the local organizations he belongs to, with the possible exception of the hospital board. He feels this appointment probably represents the influence his company has in the community. Nevertheless, he feels everyone on the board has influence equal to his. Business, Mr. Smith believes, is widely looked to for com- munity support. Because certain projects have required heavy support and the major industries, including his, had to be represented, Mr. Smith has relied upon his employees, Mr. Corbin and Mr. Haig, to represent their organization as well as themselves in civic projects. The hospital and the Community Activities Council are the two organizations in the community in which Mr. Smith feels that the participation of business is more im- portant than in others. He especially noted the hospital as hmportant because as an employer he feels he is directly responsible for the health of his men. By his service on the hospital board he feels he can help insure good hospital care. Mr. Smith stated that he felt political partici- pation had not been too important as far as his activities were concerned. He had not felt he could afford the time in city government or in state and national politics. Most of our informants viewed Mr. Smith as a quiet and moderate individual with good judgment who was doing his share in serving the community. Smathers.--Mr. Dean Smathers, the son of a farmer, was born in 1899 and lived in Kansas until the age of seven, at which time his family moved to Mills Springs Township, where he has resided for over fifty-five years. Mr. Smathers graduated from high school and attended college for one year, majoring in agriculture. He is a prosperous poultryman and has operated a poultry and dairy farm for some forty-three years. Mr. Smathers is an avowed exponent of soil con- servation and has held many offices in organizations dedicated to this purpose. He has been (1) director of the Squaw Creek Soil Conservation District, (2) president for four years and chairman of the State Soil Conservation Committee, (3) director of the National Association of Soil Conservation Districts for three years and vice-president for two years, and (A) is a member of the Soil Conservation Society of America. ;//’ Mr. Smathers has been the director of the Production Credit Association of Farmers for twelve years and chairman Of the Poultry Committee in the Farm Bureau. As a member of the governing board of one of the state‘s large 93 universities, he served as chairman of the Legislative Committee. His local activities have included membership in the Mills Springs Kiwanis Club, where he served on the Agricultural Committee. He is on the hospital board and has been vice-president and head of the Finance Committee. Mr. Smathers is at present the chairman of the Mills Springs Board of Education and chairman of the Mills County Board of Education. For twelve years he has been chairman of the Mills County Fair Board. Other activities have included work with the Boy Scouts and Y. M. C. A. Mr. Smathers is County Chairman of the Republican Party and is on the State Agricultural Stablization Committee. He is a member of the Methodist Church, where he teaches Sunday School and is chairman of the Finance Com- mittee. He is also a Mason. Mr. Smathers does think of himself as representing agriculture to some extent in the organizations of which he is a member, but he does not know to what extent one can represent a group. He feels he most distinctly repre- sents agriculture on the school board, and that partici- patLQn of farmers is most crucial there because the city and county school board members must get together at that point, especially to resolve the increasing incidence of population problems which call for annexation or 91+ consolidation. Mr. Smathers is confirmed in his belief that modern Michigan farmers must face the reality that they need larger units in school organization just as they do in agriculture and elsewhere. Those in agriculture have a stake in the state and nation even though their number is constantly dwindling. A farmer has to mix with others to learn what they think and to keep up with the changing times; conversely, they need to inform others of their position. Because Mills Springs is tied so closely to the income of the farmers, their participation in Mills Springs has affected the basic policies of the town, Mr. Smathers believes. Even so, there are certain parties in the town who have resisted rural participation vigorously. The school issue is an oustanding instance. The greatest amount of cooperation between Mills Springs and the country to date was seen in the building of the new hospital, he feels. The majority of our informants are impressed by the intelligence and public spirit Mr. Smathers exhibits. His opponents begrudgingly admit to his accomplishments. Nickerson.--Mr. Harold Nickerson was born in north— ernlflichigan in 1898, the son of a rural mail carrier. He has lived in Mills Springs approximately forty years. He is a college graduate, having earned a B. A. in liberal arts. After college he worked for some three years for a 95 large pickling company as a contact man with the pickle farmers in Michigan. While at college, he met the daughter of one of the Sampsons and married her. He began working for the Sampson Woolen Mills in 1921. Since 1946 he has been the board chairman of the Sampson Corporation, which he ran until 1955. Mr. Nickerson's formal local community activites are slight in comparison with those of others. However, he is a board member of the local bank and has been its chairman. He is very interested in banking and attends state boards on finance. He has never been an active service club member because it would have been unwise for a member of the industry in town to push himself. Otherwise, he would have joined all the organizations had conditions been more conducive. Mr. Nickerson has been very active in the Boy Scouts at the management, direction, finance, and council levels and has held most of the offices available. He is quite active in his college fraternity, the Masons, and the Methodist Church. He is a member of the board of trustees of his alma mater. Mr. Nickerson has been active in the past in various country and city clubs. His church interests are by far the strongest. Mr. Nickerson represents the Sampson interests in everything he does, we were told, but especially in the 96 Methodist Church, the bank, and Boy Scouts. Their manage— ment employees have in the past represented Sampson's on the school board and in other community organizations. Politically, Mr. Nickerson leans heavily toward the Republican Party, to whose coffers he has contributed. Although he has not been politically active himself, he feels that political participation is most important. Mr. Nickerson was described by most interviewees as one who works behind-the-scenes and who is very conser- vative in his inclinations. O'Toole.--Mr. Martin O'Toole was born in the year 1903 in northern Michigan where he grew up. His father was a lumberman. After Mr. O'Toole earned his B. A. degree in Industrial Education, he taught school for two years in another community before moving to Mills Springs, where he taught industrial arts for seven years. After marrying the daughter of a prosperous local farmer, Mr. O'Toole opened the O'Toole Auto Sales of which he has been proprietor and operator for twenty-four years. Mr. O'Toole is interested in the industrial develop- ment of Mills Springs and was at one time the director of the Mills Springs Improvement Association. Besides being a member of various trade associations, he was a member of the short-lived Chamber of Commerce. Mr. O'Toole is presently chairman of the committee concerned with boys' and girls' work in the Kiwanis and of its Membership and Attendance Committee. In 19A8 he was the club's president. Mr. O'Toole was one of the driving forces, along with Warrington, Rand, and Kingston, behind the drive to build the new hospital. He was its board‘s first president. He remains a director and presently serves in the capacity of chairman of the Public Relations Committee. Additional civic or welfare activities in which Mr. O'Toole has taken part include: the post of drive chairman for the Community Chest, scoutmaster, committee chairman, Mills District chairman, and service on the Council Executive Board of the Boy Scouts. Mr. O'Toole has held office in the Masons and is a trustee of the Methodist Church. Although he does not think of himself as repre- senting any group such as business, professions, or govern- ment in the organizations of which he is a member, he does think it is important for business to participate in as many community organizations as possible. In addition to rendering community service, this participation affords one good contacts and may expand one's business, he stated. Mr. O'Toole feels participation in church activities and service clubs is more important than in other organizations because in these two groups there is more opportunity to serve the wider community. As for political participation, Mr. O'Toole believes in neutrality of one's position to be 98 most important. Inoffensiveness is a virtue to be desired. Most of the interviewees viewed him as an independent thinker and neutralist. Kingston.--Mr. Thomas F. Kingston was born in Philadelphia where he lived until the age of four, where- upon his family moved to Mills Springs. He has been a resident of Mills Springs for nearly fifty years. His father was associated with the Sampson Woolen Mills until he founded his own Thomas M. Kingston Woolen Mill in 1921. Mr. Kingston graduated from the local high school and went directly to work with his father's firm, with which he has remained for over thirty years. He has been the firm's vice-president for almost twenty-five years. Mr. Kingston is a member of the Lions and has been their president and vice-president as well as head of the Fund-raising Committee. In the past he was also a Kiwanian. Mr. Kingston is vice-president of the hospital board and heads the Finance Committee. He and a now-deceased brother of Guy Smith initiated and for a time financed the local Community Chest before turning it over to the Com- munity Activities Council. He has been a school board member and for several years has been an officer and member of the Boy Scouts board. Under his administration as mayor various civic improvements were instituted. Mr. Kingston is a Republican county committeeman and was the party secretary about a decade ago. KL) mg) mg Kings an is an active Co gregationalist and has AA- 0 served on the church board of trustees for ten years. He also the finance director of the church. It was at his 0 ‘ I A. U) instigation that the church was rebuilt. Mr. Kingston does not feel that he represents a group such as business, professions, or government in any of the organizations to which he belongs. He does feel, however, that it is important for business to participate i) n (5 many community organizations as possible, beca se H. k the communit. looks to business to lead and guide them, and because business owes it to the community from which it makes its livelihood. Business should participate and work in those activities that will help all the community. This n the community in return. The hospital () 2 P. will aid busineo’ and Cammunity Activities Council were Pointed out as the two organizations most deserving of support, because they benefit the majority of the community. Mr. Kingston ranks political participation as most important. He thinks more people should take an interest in politics to prevent situations such as the (then current) Coldfine-Adams case. Honest men are needed in office, and the people are the only ones who can see to it that we get them . Derring.-—Mr. Tim Derring, the son of a farmer, was L). born in 1902. He was raised an has lived in Mills Springs all his life. After eight years of formal education, he lOO worked at various Jobs in nearby cities for a time, and then farmed full-time for some years in a township near Mills Springs. He has also worked in a bank, has been an automobile dealer, a home-builder; and for the last thirty- five years he has been the proprietor and operator of the Derring Real Estate and insurance firm and a part-time farmer. He has membership in the Mills County Insurance Association and was president and secretary of the defunct Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Derring has been a Kiwanian for twenty-five years and has held all offices but the presidency. He presently heads their Improvement Committee. At one time he was the assistant chairman of the Community Chest. Although he has kept out of local politics, Mr. Derring was chairman of the Mills County Democratic Party. He is a Methodist. He also belongs to the Elks and Oddfellows. Mr. Derring makes no bones about the desirability of working behind-the-scenes to attain his objectives and that organizational participation has had a salutary effect on his business. He unqualifiedly supported the proposition that businessmen should be active in community affairs and to get men in organizations that one wants and knows will serve one's interests. These aims were considered of prime importance. "One can keep things under control." He lOl personally thinks his behind-the-scenes operations have been more productive of results in his case. He would rather let younger men stay in the limelight and be active. He has great confidence in the Jaycees and the women's clubs when support is needed. Mr. Derring ranks the importance of political par- ticipation very highly, stating that "whatever you do has an element of politics in it. You need influential people and connections in anything you want to do." Top Influentials The following table lists those individuals who were important to the resolution of the hospital and school issues. It gives a brief account of their social, civic, and political affiliations. M. Stone. --Age 43; Lawyer; Education--A. B. and E. E. E. Resident in Mills Springs 10 years; Membership in organizations--County- -State- National Bar Associations, Jaycees, Kiwanis, Chamber of Commerce, Boy Scouts; Religion-- Methodist; Political activities-—Republican Party-Vice-chairman, ran but lost State Senator, Tri-county Regional Planning Commission. R. Rolls.--Age #9; Partner in Rolls Shoe Store; Education--B.S., Chem. Engr.; Resident in Mills Springs 49 years; Membership in organizations—- Bank Director, Lions, Kiwanis, Chamber of Commerce, School Area Study, Golf Club, Mason; Religion-~Congregational; Political Activities-- Republican. R. Stewart.--Age 43; General manager, Butcher Realty; Education--A.B., Econ.; Resident in Mills Springs 15 years; Membership in organi- zations--Realtors' Associations, Lions, Chamber of Commerce, Citizens' Committee, Mason; . 102 Religion--Congregational; Political Activities-- not known. J. M. Rice.--Age 58; School Superintendent; Education--A.B., and M.A.; Resident of Mills Springs 10 years; Membership in organizations-- Educators' Associations, Lions, Kiwanis. Chamber of Commerce, Hospital, P. T. A., Community Activities Council; Religion--Methodist; Government or Political Activities--Board of Education. G. Thyssen.--Age A6; Publisher-Editor; Education-- A.B., Resident of Mills Springs 4 years; Member- ship in organizations--Press Associations, Lions, Kiwanis. L. McIntosh.——Age 58; C.P.A., Justice of Peace; Education--High school; Resident of Mills Springs 38 years; Membership in organizations--M.S. Improvement Association, conservation clubs, Golf Club, Mason; Government or Political Activities-~Justice of Peace, Water Resources Commission. J. P. Finn.-—Age A3; Lawyer; Education--A.B., B.L.L., M.A.; Resident of Mills Springs 5 years; Membership in organizations—-County-State- National Bar Associations, Lions, Rotary, Community Activities Council, Country Clubs, Oddfellows, V.F.W., K.C.; Religion--Catholic; Government or Political Activities-~City Attorney, Zoning Board, Appeals Board, Police Commission. C. Carlyle.--Age A3, President Mills Stamping; Edfication--High school; Resident of Mills Springs 43 years; Membership in organizations--Lions, Hospital, Boy Scouts, Golf Club, Mason, M.S. Improvement Association, School Area Study; Religion-~Congregational; Government or Political Activities--Appeals Board. C. Bond.--Age 45; Owner, Bond's Dept. Store; EdfiEEron--High school; Resident of Mills Springs 22 years; Membership in organizations-~Bank Director, Lions, Kiwanis, Chamber of Commerce, M.S. Improvement Association, Country Clubs, Golf Club; Religion--Methodist; Political Activities--Democrat. H. Foster.--Age 45; Job Superintendent, Construction, EducatiOn-—High school; Resident of Mills Springs 20 years; Membership in organizations--Carpenters' 103 Union, Lions, Oddfellows; Religion--Congretational; Government or Political Activities-~City Commis- sioner, County Board Supervisors, Zoning Board. L. M. Eagle.--Age 5i; Postmaster; Education——High school; Resident of Mills Springs 49 years; Membership in organizations--Postmasters' Associ- ation, Lions, Rotary, Boy Scout, Conservation Club, Mason; Religion--Congregational;Government or Political Activites--Board of Education, Republican. N. Edwards.—-Age 37; Owner—Distributor Edwards Dairy; Education-~High school; Resident of Mills Springs 37 years; Membership in organizations-- Jaycees, Lions, Chamber of Commerce, Boy Scouts, Conservation Club, Mason; Religion-~Methodist; Government or Political Activites--Appeals Board. M. White.-—Age 47; Housewife; Education-~High school; Membership in organizations-~P.T.A., Boy Scouts; Religion--Methodist; Government-- Board of Education. CHAPTER IV DESCRIPTION AND CHRONOLOGY OF ISSUES1 Introduction Throughout the years the community of Mills Springs has faced and solved a number and variety of issues. Some of these issues have been of particular importance in the lives of the majority of the townspeople, because they ‘have had a subsequent effect on their values and beliefs, way of life, and their economic interests. But in terms of the main objective of this thesis, the significant note that these particular community issues have recurrently struck is that of power relationships. These issues have revealed the dynamic power dimensions of decision-making in the community. Other less important and non-controver- sial projects or issues have been handled successfully by the institutional sectors formally empowered to do so, but in three important community issues the problems they pre- sented could not be handled in the normal institutional channels. Because these important issues directly involved a conflict of economic interests, values, and beliefs, and —_ 1The accounts of these issues have been gleaned from information supplied us by our informants, newspaper accownts, and historical documents in the local and state libraries. 104 105 a threat to the status quo, there was a disruption of ordinary power relationships in the community; and an effort was made by several of the community power struc- ture members to establish or maintain their positions. These issues eventually involved the wider community. During the hegemony of the Sampson and their allied interests, most problems or potential issues were solved by the Sampson representatives in a paternalistic fashion, and with quiet dispatch and little community involvement. But with the decline from power of the Sampson and allied inter- ests, certain community issues began to appear. The one issue which directly involved a challenge to the power of the Sampson interests was the strike-unionization issue of 1937, which occurred as a part of the general state and national scene involving unionization. Two other important issues revealing power relations were the more recent hospital issue of 1954, and the 1958 issue dealing with the acrimonious debate over school consolida- tion and annexation. The hospital issue, as we shall show, contained only sub rosa elements of conflict. The other two issues, however, manifested explicit conflict propor- tions. It is, incidentally, interesting to note that in the first and last cases a particularly controversial, powerful, and wealthy individua1--a perennial member of the community power structure--injected personal notes of contention. This same individual has a long history as a 106 controversial community figure, and has been involved in almost all community undertakings for the last fifty years. Strike-Unionization Issue With the aid of new legislation and the sympathetic treatment accorded them by the New Deal administration and mass popular support, labor unions in the United States were struggling mightily during the 30's to attain certain rights and socio-economic power.- They were engaged in the process of organizing wage workers in many industrial areas of the nation. The CIO, with its various affiliates (such as the United Mine Workers, United Automobile Workers, and United Textile Workers), was the vanguard of this movement. As such, it was the despised enemy of many managers of industry and, also, of a substantial proportion of the national business community. Michigan was one of the prime targets of the CIO unionization activities because of its heavy industrial- ization. A bitter conflict was being waged in Michigan in 1936 and 1937 by the United Automobile Workers-C10 and the automobile manufacturers over that union's rights to be exclusive bargaining agent for automobile employees, over wage increases, over time-and-a-half for overtime after completion of a designated work week, and over other points of dispute between labor and management. Strikes were widespread, as were circuit court injunctions against them. Sometimes the threat of serious violence or outright bloody 107 battle were the results of an adamant unwillingness on the part of management to sit down and negotiate with the unions. Pickets did battle with strike-breakers and "scabs," with sheriff's deputies and police, with state militia troops, company guards, and hired thugs. Both sides were willing to use force to attain their ends. Strikes and unionization in Michigan.--A brief review of the general conflict situation over unionization in the state at that time can help us to place the Mills Springs unionization issue in the general historical con- text in which it occurred. Let us look at the formal statements of the issues in dispute as presented by the representatives of the two major opponents in the state: Homer Martin, then president of the United Automobile Workers; and William Knudsen, then executive vice-president of General Motors. Here are some excerpts from Martin's general state- ment of the union's demands in a letter to the General Motors Corporation,published in the newspapers in 1936. Collective bargaining should take place before a shut-down, rather than after. The object of the conferences desired by the union are: . . . . for the purpose of discussion and negotiating on matters affecting the present policy of General Motors Corporation, with relation to collective bargaining, seniority rights, rates and methods of pay, and the conditions of employment. 108 However, we would like to point out that the issues here involved cannot be settled by either local or division management, because these issues are not local but national in scope. It is evident that the opposition to real col- lective bargaining on the part of General Motors and other large auto manufacturers is behind the failure of our organization to negotiate a wage agreement. A study of the present situation brings out the fact that practically all auto parts manufac- turers are either dominated by the large automobile manufacturer's policy toward organized labor, or else they have decided to subscribe to the same policy. William Knudsen wrote the following open letter to Homer Martin: General Motors accepts the proposal of collective bargaining and desires to maintain satisfactory rela- tions with all its employees, regardless of union or non-union affiliation. Obviously, with plants located in separate communi— ties in fourteen states and necessarily operating under a variety of conditions, grievances of individ- uals or groups can only be handled locally, where the plant manager is familiar with local conditions and policy of employee relations. Certainly there is nothing in this common sense zarrangement which is inconsistent with bona fide collective bargaining. In fact, it promotes bona fide collective bargaining. The union leaders say they want collective bargaining. General Motors Corporation recognizes collective bar- gaining and has provided appropriate machinery for it; but plants have been shut down by the union without the consent of the majority of the employees, without any attempt on the part of the union to bargain col- lectively before the shutdown occurred. Nothwithstanding what you say, my information is that representatives of your organization have never been reiimed a meeting, and have not attempted a bona fide collective bargaining with any of our plant managers on behalf of such employees you claim to represent. 109 Discussion on matters affecting your members who are our employees should occur before a sit-down, not after. A declaration of a general strike by the United Automobile Workers-CLO followed this unsuccessful letter- writing. Alfred P. Sloan, shortly thereafter, made a statement of the official attitude of General Motors, which approved of a plan for non-union bargaining. He characterized the union stance as dictatorial. Sloan said he thought that it was not necessary for the men working for the General Motors Corporation to join a union to bar- gain collectively, since General Motors was pledged to collective bargaining on the basis of "absolute and unin- fluenced freedom" of choice for the worker to join any organization he may choose. The corporation's stand was that it did not and would not recognize any union as the sole bargaining agent for the corporation's workers. It would continue collective bargaining efforts with repre- sentatives of its workers, whether they were union or non- union. The standard work week General Motors would approve was the forty—hour week with time-and—a-half for overtime. Seniority rights would be those laid down by the automobile labor board, appointed by the president in March, 1937. Mr. Martin made a counter-reply to this statement when he said: We have never asked the right to run General Motors or its plants, but we do ask for our rights as workers through our organization to run our end of collective bargaining. 110 Thus far, General Motors has run both ends of collective bargaining because of its controls of the councils and through refusal to meet the issue of collective bargaining on the proper basis. Mr. Sloan says that seniority under the automobile labor board is the policy of General Motors. In the first place, this board has been dissolved by the president. Furthermore, General Motors used the "merit clause" as a vehicle for discrimination against union men. Mr. Sloan‘s refusal to recognize the union as the sole bargaining agent is diametrically opposed to the present law of the country (Wagner Labor Relations Act), which provides for majority rule. With both sides at an impasse, labor mediation began with no immediate success, each side blaming the, other for the delays. Riots occurred in Flint and Monroe, which necessitated the calling into service of the National Guard. Unorganized labor made several protests against the strike, but to no avail, because the shut-downs continued as the parley talks were delayed. Temporary agreement was reached in the, by then, extensive General Motors strike in February of 1937. But the union still was not recognized as the sole bargaining agent. The union was recognized as the bargaining agent for its members only. Shorter hours, time-and-a-half pay for overtime, and seniority rights were also settled. Agreement was finally reached on March 13, 1937, when recognition was granted the union for full bargaining privileges. An elaborate grievance procedure provided the answer to the "no discrimination" demand made by the union. Claims for straight seniority were also met by another lll comprehensive measure. The demands of the union were not met in full. There was some compromise. Let us now take a closer look at the unionization situation nearer the Mills Springs area. In March, 1937, Centrapolis had its first sit-down strike at the Star Motors Plant. The demand of the United Automobile Workers to be the sole bargaining agent for all employees, union and non-union, was the basic issue in this case, as it was in the state picture presented earlier. The union stated that the firing of fifteen men and the reduction off wages was the direct cause of the strike, and that officials of Star had refused to even meet with the men in bargaining sessions. The demands of the union were precisely the same as those in the General Motors strike. The union leader said that the company refused to recognize the union as the sole bargaining agent for employees and refused to make wage adjustments. The union charged that, when a wage boost was in the process of negotiations, the company cut wages. The strike was finally settled with the union being recognized as the bargaining agent for the members of the union only; the company would not discriminate against the union members; and wage and seniority issues were settled. Greater union compromise than on the state level resulted. Now let us analyze the unionization issue and the strike which occurred in Mills Springs in 1937. While the strikes at General Motors and other companies were taking 112 place, the local newspaper was waging an editorial campaign that was censorious of the more powerful labor unions, and which upheld the rights of the plant managers and owners. We shall introduce some brief excerpts from these editorials in the following presentation to illustrate the value positions of the former publisher and a majority of the local Mills Springs businessmen, professionals, and farmers. We shall also include some appropriate excerpts from The Iconoclast, a throw-away scandal sheet published at the same time by the controversial individual to whom we previously alluded. (It might be added that the then in- cumbent newspaper publisher and this individual were very close friends.) Mills Springs' strike-unionization issue.--The pub- lisher and editor of the Mills Springs Journal attacked the various union demands without citing the negative aspects of management practices which prompted such demands in the first place. No attempt was made by him to assess the fairness or feasibility of meeting such demands. On the other hand, nothing but praise was heaped upon the captains of industry. For example, with reference to the United Automobile Workers-C10 demands made of General Motors Corporation, he had the following to say: . . It seems that labor will not be satisfied until the employee can dictate to his employer just how the business is to be operated, the hourly wage, the time employed, and speed of operation. 113 Again, with the aid of borrowed editorial comment he bestowed paeans of praise on industry and business. For example: In the old days of rugged individualism the social uplifters always accused the captains of industry of coercing and intimidating the worker. Nowadays, the captains of industry can rightfully claim that they are being coerced and intimidated by the workers. But at least to their credit the captains of industry have shown their regard for law and order. They are permitting strikers to sit down on property which does not belong to them; they have not used strong-arm methods to rout these squatters who are using property in utter disregard to its ownership and in defiance of its possible sales value as a commercial product; and they are permitting sympathizers and relatives of these passive agitators to feed them through the gates and doors and windows of property which belongs to stockholders and not to myrmidons of the belligerent John L. Lewis of Napoleonic-complex fame; favorite of agitators and labor pet of the White House. There were numerous other editorials and remarks in a gossip-type column printed, which expressed similar sentiments and values. However, on June 14, 1937, with the occurrence of a United Textile Workers-CLO union strike at the Sampson Woolen Mills, this variety of harangue abated for awhile. Since a full-blown unionization situation similar to the others in the state had landed right in the Mills Spring lap, a cautious approach was taken by the publisher-editor. A fairly large contingent of the Sampson employees-- several hundred of the 500-600 persons employed--had struck, as it was later found out, for a minimum wage scale, eight- hour day, time—and-a-half for overtime, and seniority rights. ll4 A split in the community on the basis of economic interests was being rapidly generated by the strike. The prevention of such a rift was the tacitly assumed task of certain members of the community power structure who wanted to maintain the status quo of an eSsentially one—industry town. For a time the roots of the strike dispute were hidden in the murky silence assumed, for some unexplained reason, by the Sampson officials. Although several hundred workers at the Sampson Woolen Mills had gone on strike and had established picket lines about the closed buildings, the cause of the strike was not immediately determinable by the local press. All that was initially known, so the paper reported, was that the action was in accordance with an order issued by the United Textile Workers-C10 officials. The Sampson officials said they had not been advised that Monday morning as to the reason for the strike. In a week's time, however, it was learned that the union men at Sampson‘s had called the strike after some previous negotiations had taken place with the company and failed. It was reported that the Sampson organization had made certain propositions to the employees during these negotiations. In these negotiations the employees had asked for certain wage increases and adjustments in the work week and daily hours worked, which were not met by the concessions offered by the company. It was then that 115 the union officials and the employees decided to strike. There were no signs of violence at first, and the employees hoped for a peaceful settlement of the affair. The manage— ment of the mills seemed to be sitting quietly and said nothing to anyone. The newspaper expressed what it called the opinion of many Mills Springs residents that the less said about the matter relative to either side of the con- troversy, the better for all concerned. Actually, the position of the union and employees found no public outlet in Mills Springs other than public meetings and handbill distribution. After three weeks of no further negotiation, pros- pects for an early settlement of the strike were not encouraging. The company was either unwilling or unable to meet the CIO union demands for a minimum of seventy-five cents an hour. (It never became quite clear which, because the company records were not examined.) The concessions the company had offered were described as a "material in- crease in pay and adjustment of working hours," but how material the increase was was never specified. Evidently, it fell quite a bit short of the minimum demands made by the union. A general report was later circulated in the town to the effect that the Sampson organization had received cancellation of orders, due to their inability to deliver goods, and that even if the strike were settled and the 116 mill opened shortly, it would take several months before they would again be operating at full capacity. The publisher began to verbally chafe at the pro- longation of the strike, and another borrowed editorial found its way into the columns of the Mills Springs Journal. In that issue an appeal to the unions for "democratic behavior" on their part was made. This article was entitled "Democracy versus 'Isms‘." The only workable form of democratic government which the world has ever known is not based upon the theory that everybody should have absolute liberty, but rather that everybody should have as much liberty as possible without hurting the whole society. Unre- stricted for all is anarchy. Complete liberty for special groups leads to communism or Facism or some other "isms." It is strange, therefore, that some Americans who prize their democracy should let one group in its society have almost complete freedom from control. Labor unions have fewer legal restraints upon them than any other group, yet every day they demand and take more freedom. It used to be a crime to interfere with the United States mails, yet now in the midwest strike pickets are censoring mail before they let it go into factories. It used to be that a man could work if he wanted to, yet now strike pickets are making men go on relief by refusing to let them work. It used to be that a man could either join or refrain from joining a union, yet it is reported that a recent Chrysler plant sitdown strike was called to make some union members pay their dues and to force others to join. It used to be that a man did not have to belong to a union to hold a job, yet at General Motors a sitdown strike was threatened because two unionists did not like to work along side two non-unionists. It used to be that, when a man worked hard and long and built himself up in business, he could run that 117 business; yet another sitdown strike recently forced such a man to retire from control of his business. It used to be that a contract was a contract, yet there have been nearly threescore sitdown strikes in automobile plants since contracts were signed for- bidding them. Where and how must it end? In another ”ism?‘H Or the restoration of real democracy? In the same issue of the paper the reason for such renewed antagonism toward the union and the local strike became evident. In the aforementioned chatty gossip column it was admitted that: . Businessmen in Mills Springs were put on the spot last week when the striking Sampson employees circulated a petition for a jackpot to help them out. Some merchants gave, and others refused. The em- ployees of the mills are friends of the businessmen, and the men and women of management are also friends. Strikers are friends and also non-strikers. So what to do is hard to decide. Some of our businessmen and citizens are with the strikers, while others are against their operations. To say the least, nearly all Mills Springs citizens seem to be inclined to keep out of the fight as long as everything is orderly and all keep within the law and avoid any violence. The sensible thing to do is for all to keep their heads and use judgment. About a week later, with pressure on the community economy mounting, it was reported that Mills Springs mer- chants and citizens in general greatly deplored the sit- uation and hoped for a speedy agreement between the three factions: strikers, non-strikers, and management. With what might have passed for subtlety at the time, the paper published an editorial trumpeting the business ethic for all to hear. This editorial was entitled "Are Businessmen Selfish?". 118 Dr. Henry C. Link, director of the Psychological Service Center in New York City, believes that, instead of business executives being selfish, just the reverse is true. "The employer,” he writes, "who assumes the respon- sibility of giving work to other people, of providing the necessary weekly payroll, of entrusting labor responsibility to his subordinates as the business grows, of assuming the risks of competition, labor problems, manufacturing difficulties, and the thousand- and-one griefs that go with almost every business, manifests daily a high order of unselfishness. Through his energy and leadership, he improves the lot of his employees far beyond the point which their personal efforts would have made possible. . . . The fact that he may benefit materially is inevitable in the situ- ation, and not an indictment of his character." In my personal experience I've known a number of instances in which men have turned down promotions because they were unwilling to assume the large responsibilities. Yet, these same men are often the first to complain about the actions of their superiors. To quote Dr. Link again, "Many individuals remain employees rather than employers, day workers rather than executives, because they have been unable to sacrifice their selfish desires or their personal ease to the acquisition of the skill and resources that make for success." It was Napoleon who said, "Great men are meteors who burn themselves up to enlighten the world." The great masses of people are always dependent upon the creative few for food, shelter, clothing, and the pursuit of happiness. The squeeze on business activities began to be felt even harder in Mills Springs. In the fourth week of the strike no new developments had occurred. The loss of a bi-' weekly payroll of about $22,000 to the business interests led to more anxiety. Then a representative from the Depart- ment of Labor in Washington visited the town and, after getting in touch with both strikers and management, left the town with little encouragement for a settlement of the 119 strike problem. The business community had further reason to be anxious. The sentiments of the local press began openly to wax warm for Sampson Company's position. On behalf of the citizens of Mills Springs as a whole, "great appreciation for the importance and value of this fine institution" was expressed by the paper; and the strike situation was strongly deplored. An appeal to the interests of the business and professional elements of the community, to the non-strikers and farmers, was made in an editorial in the sixth week of the strike. This editorial was entitled “Who Foots the Bill?". Strikes cost money. That salient fact must be overlooked as violence steals the headlines. But as dangerous as it is when mobs run rampant through the country, halting mail trucks and interfering with other people who want to work, a long-term factor that strikes are costly cannot be overlooked. First, they are costly to the minority who decide to strike. Secondly, they are costly to the greater number who are forced out of employment in their own plant, or who are laid off because a customer's plant has been closed or a source of supply cut off. They are costly to the shopkeepers, the doctors, lawyers, and candlestick makers in every community, with losses running into billions of dollars. They are cutting heavily into the national income, out of which comes the living standard of all people. These factors are felt immediately by the various groups directly affected, but the toll that the present wave of strikes and compulsory wage increases will take in the future of the buyer of manufactured goods cannot be calculated. Let's look at it calmly. From seventy to eighty per cent of the cost of manufactured products is labor cost. 120 As these costs go up and up, the selling price of goods must go up too. That is when the consumer begins to feel the effects of an economy dictated by violence, rather than by peaceful consultation. And the farmer caught . . . caught in the squeeze, finds himself pinched as the goods he buys in the city become dearer and dearer. The type of reporting that we have been quoting from the Mills Springs Journal found strong parallel support in the anti-union pronouncements of Mr. Herbert P. Warring— ton, a prominent lawyer, sometime contractor, and realtor in the community, in his The Iconoclast publication. This unique publication was mimeographed for local distribution from about 1937 through approximately 1941. On either side of its masthead it proclaimed the legends "Be Right and Not Afraid" and "We Dare to Speak"; and beneath its title the legend "In the Interest of the Most Beautiful City in Michigan" was found. This publication was actually an instrument for the fulminations and pronouncements of Mr. Warrington. In it, he attacked what he considered to be sin, corruption, greed, hypocrisy, stupidity, and other vices in the local community, the state, and the nation. In it, he also vented his feelings against the Roosevelt administration, communism, fascism (practically any "ism"), and against the labor unions. These groups were many times lumped together as aspects of the same evil. He often treaded the thin line bordering on slander and libel, but was never sued because of his knowledge of the elasticity of the law. As a result of this publication and the inde- pendent stand he took in it on various community issues, he was both hated and admired by different segments of the community. We shall quote only a few of the outstanding literary pieces pertinent to this issue here. During the strike of the Sampson Mills, The Iconoclast expressed the following values and beliefs on the subject of,unionization in general. Strikes Will the factory man, in striking, defeat himself? It is possible and quite probable. Would the best paid labor in the world destroy the nation that enables him to live better, affords him more pleasure, and assures him full freedom of expression and deter- mination, and make a serf of himself? Certainly not, if he knew that to be the result. It may be the result. This nation cannot endure without law and order. This Democracy cannot survive without property rights. It is the right of free Americans to refuse to work for an employer he thinks is not fair in wages, treatment, or working conditions. It is equally the right of the employer to refuse employment to any person who is not efficient or faithful to the employer. If the laborer is dissatisfied, he has a perfect right to quit his employment and seek employment elsewhere. This is always open to him. The employee goes where he thinks he can do best. This is his right, his remedy. No one can legally stop him in America. Under Democratic America the laboring man is a free agent. If an employee is unfair with his laborer, the laborer, as a free agent, leaves the unfair employer until the employer is so handicapped he is compelled to make such changes as will attract labor. It is like water seeking its level. This is the peaceful means by which, during normal times, Capital and Labor have cooperated in making America the greatest nation in the world, in which the most humble laboring man lives better than the best laboring men in some other countries. In America there is a radio in every home. There is an automobile to every family. Nearly every factory workers enjoys electricity in his home. American workmen have more money, more leisure, more comfort, more enjoyment, and more pleasure than like laborers anywhere in the world. While this is all true, it is nevertheless the right of American labor to better their conditions by any LAWFUL means. They may quit and seek a better job. They may refuse to work in unison (strike), and refuse until their certain demands are complied with. If those demands are unreasonable or impossible, and the employer is unable to secure other needed employees, the factory must be closed permanently, dismantled, and torn down. Thus, labor destroys himself. However, the employees should seek their objective by peaceful and lawful methods. They have a perfect right to peacefully'"picket" a factory or other place of employment and lawfully call attention to the fact that they are striking, and to peacefully and with- out force try to persuade others not to work for their former employer; but they have no lawful right in doing this to go onto the premises of the employer. Nor have they the right to block streets or to intimidate other employees by violence or threats. They have no right to say to the other fellow (who may be perfectly satisfied), "You shall not work because we strikers chose not to work;" To submit to such a policy means destruction of democracy, and ultimately the substitution of communism or Facism in America. Under either, no man would dare strike or express himself in criticism of his govern- ment. Under either system, individual liberty perishes and the firing squad takes the place of the ballot box. Mr. Striker, you are but few of the 130,000,000 American people, and you should keep the rest in mind. They will not stand idly by and see our government perish or our liberty destroyed. If our national and state government are too weak or too timid to preserve us a free people, then vigilantes and law-and—order patriots will take charge. There must be law and order, or we perish. Mr. Warrington, purportedly on his own, contacted two groups of thirteen townspeople and workers, each of whom he felt were representative of all the interests in the community, and set up the Local Associated Workers Union in opposition to the CIO. In his Iconoclast he claimed that the majority of the striking workers joined his union. The C10, in rebuttal, challenged this state- ment; and the CIO still would not desist from picketing the Sampson Woolen Mills. The Iconclast heralded the new union in the following fashion: It is reliably reported that Sampson Brothers Woolen Mills, like manufacturers all over the country, will not bargain with the CIO because experience has demonstrated their irresponsibility and utter dis- regard of their agreement. In view of this eight-weeks deadlock and the loss of more than $80,000 wages to our people, with much more loss to follow because of the necessarily slow process of getting the contracts and getting the factory under production again, some of our local citizens who do not let an outside paid agitator do their thinking got together to see what can be done to get employers and employees back working in harmony. The consensus of opinion seems to be an independent local union. That union is under way. It is going through in spite of a half dozen die-hard CIO's who don't see the hand writing and are using their usual tactics of threat and intimidation to hold their lines. Such tactics always fail, as they should. Thirty Sampson employees were invited to meet Tuesday night to consider the advisability of an independent union. Others heard of it, including several CIO's, and more than sixty appeared. After the plan was explained, a secret ballot was taken; and there was not a single ballot in opposition. They know they can get nowhere with 010. The CIO's rosy promises have proven worthless and caused hunger, privation, want, and suffering and compelled many to ask for charity, to lose their automobiles, radios, refrigerators, etc. 124 The thinking men and women have enough of C10 and now gladly welcome a chance to join a union of their own, with blood-sucking agitators eliminated. Mr. Warrington's so-called independent union, the LAW, and his subsequent pronouncements were challenged in a series of handbills distributed by the United Textile Workers-C10. Here are some few excerpts from the replies to Mr. Warrington. As the exchanges increased, so did the personal animosities and prejudices. Is the Sampson Strike Your Fight? Sampson workers are now fighting for higher wages, for decent working conditions in their plant. They are on strike. The strike is labor's method of forcing employers to recognize labor's rights. Simply put, it is a refusal to work until demands are granted, essentially a peaceful method of gaining those rights. Only the attacks of employers and ignorant workers who don't understand that they are hurting their own future interests cause violence in strikes. How does this strike affect you? Are these people fighting for themselves alone? - No strike is waged for the strikers alone—-whether they will or no, this is true. When they win higher wages and better conditions, they automatically make it easier for their fellow workers in other plants to gain the same things. 0n the other side of this question, if, through the apathy or hostility of workers in other plants, they lose the strike, these other workers lose also. Better wages and working conditions are harder to get. Especially is this true in a low wage city like Mills Springs. Especiallyijsthis true when the first concerted drive for working men's rights is being made in the city. 125 Sampson workers are making that drive now. Upon it depends much of your future--your wages, hours, and whether you will be able to educate your children. You will gain when the Sampson workers win their battle. But you will gain much more when you organize and go out to win for yourselves. When you join with millions of other workmen in the union movement, you will tap a power that will make your demands heard much more distinctly than when you made the demand individually. Every employer in the city is subject to pressure from organized labor. Union men often refuse to work on or buy things made under "unfair" conditions. This custom could be called into use for ice cream, woolens, tubing, chickens, and pickles. The Wagner Labor Act guarantees and protects your right to organize. Henry Ford is finding that out. Sampson workers struck--possib1y making it unnecessary for you to strike. They have broken the ice. Why not take advantage of it? A direct rebuttal to Mr. Warrington's establishment of the LAW was this handbill article by the United Textile Workers-CLO, entitled "Will Sampson's Recognize the CIO?". The argument of the "locals" runs this way: "Sampson's will never recognize the CIO; therefore, the union, by insisting on negotiating an agreement with them, is forcing this grand old firm out of business to rot beside the gurgling Grand River." Now, the Iconoclasters make much of this. They seem to think that a company union is the only possible "union" in this fair city. Since the promoters of this LAW have always fought organized labor, we gather that no union is what they want. We add, "No union at all is better than an outfit which proposes wage cuts." It has been said that the union, in combination with the-rast of the labor movement, could cut away Sampson business if it were necessary in order to force nego- tiations for an agreement or protect the wage scales f- 120 in the woolen industry. However, possession of this power by the union does not mean that the mill will rot. 0n the contrary, the realization of this coast- to— coast power of the labor movement in the markets in which they sell makes managements want to take the peaceful way and negotiate agreements. It was the realization of this hard economic fact which forced General Motors, General Electric, Big Steel, and numerous other "we won't bargain with the C10" firms to sign an agreement. The LAW argument is an insult to the mill management. According to them, the management would be childish and petty enough to let a million-dollar concern go to the junk man "because they didn't want to recognize the CIO." According to them, a starving man in a bakery would go ahead and die because he didn't like bread without butter on it. Firms have gone out of business when assailed by the demands of the militant union; but in every case such firms were on their last legs 35fore the union came. (And would have been forced into bankrupcy by their creditors.) Or they intended to reorganize in a new location where they thought they could get away with sub-standard wages. The near—bankrupt firms were better out of the way; they indulged in cut-throat price-cutting in order to eke out their dwindling business—and forced healthy business all over the country to pay lower wages. The "runaway'firms didn't have a chance. The union followed them and forced an agreement out of them anyway. Everyone knows that the Sampson Mill is in excellent financial condition. According to their own report, the value of the concern increased over $86, 000 in 1934; increased to almost p440,000 in 1935. At their last report they had over $2 7, 000 in liquid funds than was needed to pay current running expenses. Creditors have never worried about Sampson Brothers Woolen Mills-~and they don't fear bankruptcy now-- whatever LAW's may say. Of course, the management does not want to recognize the CIO. No firm wants to recognize the union and raise its wage bill. But that does not mean that a business will take a loss running into the hundreds of thousands in order to escape an increase in wages 5? a few‘thousand. 127 If such is true, cabbages certainly grow on orange trees--and H. P. Warrington is Joe Stalin in disguise, pretending to be a Republican. Meanwhile, on July 23, 1937, a full-page advertise— ment was paid for in the Mills Springs Journal by one hundred merchants, businessmen, and professionals in the town. It read as follows: An Expression of Confidence and Appreciation To the Management of the Sampson Brothers Woolen Mills WE, THE UNDERSIGNED MERCHANTS, BUSINESS, AND PROFES- SIONAL PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF MILLS SPRINGS, have prepared and paid for the publication of this article as an EXPRESSION OF APPRECIATION for what the Sampson Brothers Woolen Mills has done for our City in the past, and also as an EXPRESSION OF CONFIDENCE IN THE MANAGEMENT IN THE PRESENT LABOR CONTROVERSY NOW CON— FRONTING THEM. We feel that the people of this community owe a great deal of gratitude to the Sampsons for their years of effort in building up and expanding their organization to its present size and for keeping their plant in steady operation. For many years the Mills have been the boast of the town and considered the life stream of our little city. It has furnished steady employ- ment to the heads of numerous families whose comfortable homes have been entirely paid for from earnings at the Mills. It is estimated that, since the organization started operation, they have paid out several millions of dollars for wages alone, much of which has been cir- culated locally. At the time of the present strike the weekly payroll was approximately $10,000; and we feel that every resident of the town, no matter how he derives his living, has a direct interest in the operation of the Mills and in the outcome of this strike. While we grant the right of every worker to quit HIS job if he isn't satisfied, we do not grant that he has the right to deny ANY OTHER MAN the right to work at a job with which he is satisfied. We greatly deplore the fact that a FEW disgruntled workers, with the aid of professional organizers brought in from out 128 of town, said organizers having no interest whatever' in the welfare of Mills Springs, its people, or even the Sampson Brothers employees other than certain fees they are able to collect from them, have been able to close down these mills, which are THE GREATEST SINGLE ASSET THE CITY OF MILLS SPRINGS HAS. We deplore the tactics strikers pursued in endeavoring to "PUT THE LOCAL MERCHANTS ON THE SPOT" by soliciting funds and supplies almost at the very outset of this strike. Merchants who expressed the wish to remain neutral about an argument they knew little or nothing about were immediately listed as "non-sympathizers" and a boycott suggested. One merchant, who stated that "he was carrying many of the strikers on his books with no prospect of an early settlement and felt that he could not contribute any further," was immediately listed as a ”sympathizer" when, as a matter of fact, he was just the opposite. We greatly deplore the methods used in "picketing" the mills, many of which are in direct violation of our existing laws. The fact that owners of the Mills upon which they pay city, state, and Federal taxes, desiring to enter the Mills for the purpose of obtaining the payroll and paying all back wages due both strikers and employees, were refused admit- tance to their own property without a guard, it looks positively silly to every American citizen who still believes in his property rights. From the information at hand, we believe that the wage scale and working conditions at the Sampson Brothers Mills are on par and, in some instances, above other mills in the state producing the same type of merchan- dise. For many, many years the Sampson Mills have operated without labor trouble, and we cannot but conclude that the strikers have been EXPLOITED, ILL- ADVISED, AND MISGUIDED by professional out-of-town organizers and that eventually they must realize their mistake. Approximately every person signing this article is a tax-payer and has direct financial and moral interest in the welfare of Mills Springs. Every one of us greatly deplores the situation, and we pledge ourselves individually and collectively to aid in any way possible for the quick and peaceful settlement of the present labor trouble. The most welcome sound the people of Mills Springs can hear will be the sound of the Sampson whistle. In the same edition an accompanying article, entitled "Appeal to the Sampson Strikers" attempted to soothe the presumably irate strikers. Contrary to the belief of some, the business and pro- fessional people and the citizens of Mills Springs have no ill-will against the strikers at the Sampson Brothers WColen Mills personally. The entire matter is simply the result of difference of opinions. What the entire community desires is a settlement of this difference of opinions, in a manner that will be for the benefit and welfare of all. All concerned—-strikers, non-strikers, and management-- are friends of the people of the entire community. We all desire to retain that frienship and keep the status of the citizens of Mills Springs as 223 gig family, with the best interests of all the paramount issue. The bone of contention in the entire matter seems to be whether or not a disinterested outside organization should dictate and rule the policies of a local con- cern, or that the people locally should be able to handle and govern their own affairs without the aid or assistance of outsiders who have no interest what- ever in the employees, citizens, or city in general other than to gain their own points, which is made really important to them from a financial standpoint. In the face of an independent union being formed, the Journal assumes the responsibility of stating that every man, woman, and child in Mills Springs wishes to be friends with all concerned in this strike. We have had no violence, and sincerely hope none will occur. We do not and cannot, however, agree with the strikers and their tactics in taking over a valuable property, permitting stock and equipment to be more or less ruined and an inestimable loss placed on the owners and management, at the direction of John L. Lewis or any other individual or organi- zation. It is against the laws and the Constitution of the country, is not American, not patriotic, and contrary to all that good government stands for. From a payroll standpoint alone the loss to the com- munity is approximately $80,000 since the strike started; in addition to the payroll, the loss will amount to many thousands additional. Every individual, striker and non-striker, management and citizens all 110 .J lose. Personally, we honestly believe we can settle our own affairs, and that the management—of the mills will be Just and fair under reasonable conditions and reasonable requests. LeETs get this strike settled for the benefit offiall. In early August of 1937, after nine weeks of the strike, a plan was offered by the governor to end the Mills Springs strike. He proposed mediation by a state labor commissioner. The proposal was accepted by the striking employees of the mills, but the company officials could not be reached to determine whether they would accept the offer. The union aired its grievances in an interview with the Centrapolis State Journal dealing with the gover- nor's proposal. For the first time, the union got a public press hearing. They charged the Sampson Company with promoting a company union, coercing employees through a labor layoff, discriminating against United Textile Workers employees of Sampson's, and refusing sincerely to bargain. They asserted that the company union, LAW, was organized by a local attorney, Mr. Warrington, assisted by several floor men from the mills. The union reported further that several of the company union's members had signed affidavits for the national board, stating they were coerced into signing up for membership. The union announced its intention to secure boycott pressures on the Sampson Brothers Mills through its organized customers in Cleveland, Buffalo, Rochester, New York City, Chicago, and Cincinnati. 131 The Iconoclast and the Mills Springs Journal both vehemently denied any connection whatsoever between LAW and the Sampson Company. They did not make any mention of any coercion either. On August 26, 1937, the United Textile Workens-CIO announced a discontinuance of its picketing of the Sampson Brothers Woolen Mills offices. This action had been prompted by the announcement that the mill was changing its purpose from manufacture of woolen goods to the handling of real estate. The picketing of the plant, however, continued. There was some confusion. as to whether the Sampson Company was actually changing its purpose either by changing the management and ownership of the mills by shifting the stock of the owners, or through the buying in of an outside interest. The attorney for the company stock- holders stated that he thought the firm was liquidating, which was also the opinion of the Michigan Corporation and Securities Commission authorities. There was no word from the Sampson Company until the next day, when the president of the firm, returning from a trip to Texas, served notice on his workers that, unless they showed their loyalty to the company by returning to work in a body, the entire plant would be removed to Texas. Further doubts about the company's intentions were dispelled, because the next day it had an injunction served by the Mills County sheriff's officers on the union. The 132 writ, issued by the county circuit court judge, ordered the pickets to desist immediately under penalty of arrest. Copies of the injunction were served during the day on the various members who had served as pickets. The striking workmen were jubilant because of the injunction. It proved that the Mills management intended to reopen the plant despite indications to the contrary. The union had no intention of discontinuing the strike. It indicated that the pickets would continue to stand duty about the mills in spite of the injunction. And they said that, even if the governor should send National Guard troops to move them by force, the strike would be continued through the cooperation of union customers of Sampson. As a counte; move, the striking workmen filed petitions with the National Labor Relations Board, asking for a real election to be held among the employees to deter- mine who should represent them as a collective bargaining agent. Herbert P. Warrington replied that the union's request that an election be held was "the last feeble effort ' and charged, "They will not pull over to save their faces,’ fifty votes if the election is held." After these momentous happenings, a lull of a few days occurred, during which time the union held fast to its picketing; and the opposition, headed by Mr. Warrington, continued to mourn the impending closing of Sampson's. H bu LU Mr. Warrington waxed eloquent in a speech to the Rotary Club of a neighboring city. His remarks were to the effect that communism or Fascism was coming mighty fast if condi- tions that threaten the all-time closing of the Sampson Brothers Woolen Mills were allowed to continue undisturbed in America. He attacked the Wagner Act as a collection of legal don't's for the manufacturer and a free reign, bordering on anarchy, for labor. Comparing the decision of the Sampsons to "permanently" retire from the industrial field before they would submit to CIO control, the speaker predicted that Henry Ford would do precisely the same thing: that the "Flivver King" would dismantle his plant before he would take any ouside dictation. Warrington urged the Sampsons to match the efforts of their friends. The Mills Springs Journal reported that a counter- boycott of C10 union goods was spreading rapidly in town. At a social gathering here the other evening, the ladies were heard to announce their intention of banning all CIO union-made goods. When they pur- chase articles, they will ask if they are C10; and if they are, they aren't having any. This group consisted of both housewives and businesswomen in Mills Springs. The women as well as the men are getting "fed up" on the C10 and all its works. This movement of boycott is spreading over the land as individuals, clubs, and societies take it up. The women are a mighty factor in the buying world, as it is a known fact that they do most of the country's spending. And when they undertake a thing, they always see it through. The CIO continued to "fight," nevertheless, and held public meetings on the island to present their side of the issue. Another organizer was sent in to replace 134 the individual who had been in charge and who had incurred the intense malice of the opposition. Then, on September 23, 1937, bench warrants were finally served by two sheriff's officers on twenty-one members of the Textile Workers Organizing Committee and United Automobile Workers, accused of violating the injunction against the picketing of the Sampson Brothers Woolen Mills. At about the same time, a force of some twenty-five officials and workers of Sampson Brothers Woolen Mills went to work handling stock on hand in the warehouse. This action gave rise to a rumor that the company had resumed operations following the long, drawn-out strike. The com- pany, however, had not resumed official operation. Prior to going to the warehouse to take care of stock on hand, officials of the company had notified state police and local authorities in order to avoid possible trouble in going through the picket line. A large number of special deputies were sworn in, and both state and city police were prepared to handle any trouble that might arise. No attempt was made by the pickets to interfere with the cxnnpany officials and the workers who entered the plant. The picket line hung around until about nine o'clock, when it dispersed and did not return. In addition to the Inanagement and employees, about sixty deputies from the city were on duty and a hundred or more other citizens, 135 ready to see that no one stopped the taking possession of the mills as planned. The next morning another one hundred or more citizens formed into a vigilante militia, headed by a white-coated Mr. Warrington, were on hand to see that no trouble was started. There was none. The management of the concern had no statement to make as to the future, stating that they did not know what the future had to offer. Liquidation was seriously considered. Jail terms ranging from ten to twenty days were meted out by the judge at the Mills County Circuit Court to five leaders of the United Textile Workens strike against Sampson Brothers Woolen Mills at Mills Springs. Seventeen UTW pickets, including the five who were sentenced, had pled guilty of having violated a circuit court injunction preventing picketing of the mills. .Those sentenced were: a UTW organizer from a neighboring town, the UTW local president, a mill employee reported to have pulled the switches turning off power at the plant to signal start of the strike, and two other mill employees who were active in organizing the strike. The judge explained that he was picking out five of the ring leaders of the union to sentence first. "The orders of the court must be respected," the judge said. ”Perhaps five of the defendants could be 136 properly thinned out from the others as having been more responsible for what has happened." The judge said that in pronouncing sentence he was taking into account the many factors of the case. A prom- inent former congressman and attorney for the defendants had asked leniency on the grounds that no violence, no damage to property, nor injury to persons had occurred during the strike. The sentencing of the union strike leaders to jail effectively halted the strike and led to a resumption of plant operations. On October 8, 1937, a glowing report of the Sampson Victory was printed in the Mills Springs Journal. All business places in the city stopped business and locked their doors Thursday afternoon at four o'clock, in order to take part in a parade headed by Bunn's Band, marching down Main Street to the Sampson Brothers Woolen Mills, where a rousing demonstration was given the Sampsons in honor of the opening of the plant Tuesday morning. H. P. Warrington broadcast a talk in which he assured the Sampsons of the loyal support and ap- preciation of the entire citizenry of the community. J. Homer led the crowd in a Sampson yell, and the Smith Dairy Farms were represented with a large truckload of employees and workers. Following the talk, the businessmen and many others shook hands with the Sampsons and other members of the executive staff. While the crowd was in front of the mill and the Sampson Mill whistle blew in all its glory for the first time in fourteen weeks, it was greeted by a roaring cheer from the crowd. It is estimated that at least one thousand people participated in this demonstration, which was con- clusive evidence that ninety-nine per cent of the people are with the Sampson Brothers industry and will back them to the limit. 137 In retaliation for the jailing of its leaders, the C10 arranged an automobile caravan of about twenty-five n carloads of UAW men from nearby cities and towns and d 'j ove into the Mills Springs busines district to stage a parade About eight hundred p rsons, evidently "tipped off” about the demonstration plans, had assembled along Main Street before the demonstration. Forewarned of the plans, the chief of police had sworn in a dozen special deputies 5—9) or the special occasion. The chief of police was slightly injured when he thrown to the ground in attempting to halt the motor- (I) Y - 3" fl :1. e. The driver of the automobile, the UAR organizer, D; W C |,._J was later jailed and fined for reck ess driving. This incident was the last of the strike-unionization ‘nd for all intents and purposes, this was the end H. U) (’1 C (D \- o w unionization issue in the community. For the past 0 “a m :5 two decades unionization has not been of major importance in the communitv; and as we have stated before, only two U which are affiliated with out-of-town corporations (1) plant are unionized. The other local organizations are to this day non-union. Hospital Issue The issue over building the new Mills Springs com— munity hospital began December 8, 1953. 138 At noon of that Tuesday members of the Kiwanis Club were informed by one of its members, Dr. Miles Anker, a local physician, that the state fire marshal had con- demned the old Morton Hospital. The doctors who operated this non-profit hospital were informed by the fire marshal that extensive repairs and renovations would be needed if the hospital were to continue operating, and that it would be closed within thirty days unless a series of fire pre- vention steps were taken. The expense of renovating and repairing the hospital was estimated by Dr. Anker to run close to $40,000. The Morton institution lacked the funds to comply with the order. Dr. Anker stated further that he personally felt it was an unwarranted expense to put so much money in a structure eighty-three years old. The required changes listed by the fire marshal included: more fire escapes, installation of a sprinkler system and fire doors, con- struction of a separate building for storing oxygen tanks, Ixmniring of the operating room, relocation of the nursery, arki